Political prisoners

On Dec. 9, 1981, Abu-Jamal was driving a taxi when he saw that police had stopped his brother. He got out of the car to make sure police were not
violating his brother's civil rights.In the altercation that followed, Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner was shot and killed. Witnesses saw a man flee the scene who did not look like Abu-Jamal. But when police arrived, they arrested Mumia Abu-Jamal, who had also been shot....

Leonard Peltier will be 63 years old on September 12, 2007. It's an international day for demanding the immediate, unconditional freedom of this Native American artist, writer, and activist--one of the most widely recognized political prisoners in the world....

In Boston on March 8 and in New York City on March 11, the first two of four national rallies demanded that the U.S. government “Free Aafia Siddiqui” and allow her to return to her family in Pakistan. Framed in a U.S. court in 2010, she has been serving an 86-year sentence at Carswell Federal Prison ever since....

March 2016 will mark 13
YEARS that Dr. Aafia Siddiqui has been a political
prisoner. Her life is on the line. She has not had a
prison visit with any family member or her in over a
year. Aafia is a victim of the U.S. torture program in
Afghanistan and continuing prison abuse in Federal
prison in Ft. Worth Texas....

A U.S. court of appeals today has vacated the immigration fraud conviction of Palestinian-American activist Rasmea Odeh. Odeh was convicted in 2014 for failing to disclose a 1969 arrest and conviction in an Israeli military court on her U.S. immigration and naturalization documents. Odeh had been subjected to torture, including rape, by Israeli interrogators and forced to sign a false confession...

Feb. 22 — Shouts of jubilation, tears of joy and big hugs were the order of the day on Feb. 19 as Albert Woodfox, the last imprisoned member of the Angola 3, walked out of the West Feliciana Parish Jail in southern Louisiana....

African-American, Puerto Rican, Palestinian and other organizations joined with the attorneys for Native political prisoner Leonard Peltier at a meeting at the Martin Luther King Labor Center here this evening to raise funds for his defense on the 40th anniversary of his imprisonment....

The following is a letter written by Puerto Rican political prisoner Oscar López Rivera, who has been in a U.S. prison since 1981. It was read by his daughter Clarisa on his birthday, Jan. 6, and published in Spanish on Jan. 11. ...

Come to a report back on the three days in December that shook the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (DOC)’s refusal to provide the appropriate and curative treatment available for Mumia and at least 7,000 other Pennsylvania prisoners infected with the hepatitis-C virus. Those dramatic three days, December 18, 22, and 23, marked a turning point in exposing the DOC’s policy of negligence and malevolence in denying available cures for this deadly disease. A new DOC protocol for treating hep-C patients, something that both activists and legislators had been clamoring for, was secretly issued on November 12, 2015. The DOC attorney was now insisting that Mumia’s attorneys agree not to publicize this document. Mumia’s attorneys refused to agree to this attempt at hiding the horrendous truth in this new document....

Supporters of a Michigan political prisoner, the Rev. Edward Pinkney,
continued their efforts unabated through the holiday season. Behind the walls
of the infamous Marquette Prison, attacks by officials also were unrelenting
against him....

The third and final day for Mumia Abu-Jamal’s lawsuit against the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections ended on Dec. 23 with the jaw-dropping revelation that the lawyer representing the DOC had knowingly introduced false evidence. In this case, the DOC is the defendant....

Women prisoners in the Yuba County Jail in Marysville, Calif., are on hunger strike in solidarity with detained immigrants. In the first such unified prisoner action in the U.S., women in criminal custody are fasting in solidarity with women in immigration custody. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) rents space in the Yuba County Jail to incarcerate undocumented immigrants. ...

As the Rev. Edward Pinkney approached the start of his second year in prison, a powerful show of support was displayed in Detroit on Dec. 12 for Michigan’s political prisoner. The Emergency Conference to Save Rev. Pinkney drew over 70 participants from across Michigan and several other states. Longtime supporters of Rev. Pinkney were joined by many who had only recently heard about the jailed Benton Harbor civil rights activist. Many were meeting each other for the first time....

Around 170 million people globally are chronically infected with the hepatitis C virus. Left untreated, HCV causes liver disease and other complications that kill 350,000 to 500,000 people every year....

This Thanksgiving Day there will be prayers and a rally at the White House for Anishinabe-Lakota political prisoner Leonard Peltier. We are asking President Obama to review Peltier’s case for clemency. If the president can pardon a turkey, he can surely look at facts and free Leonard....

The European Parliament, a body that is directly elected by the people of all 28 European Union member states and is more reflective of their opinions than many governments, voted on Oct. 29 that each EU country should “drop any criminal charges against Edward Snowden, grant him protection and consequently prevent extradition or rendition by third parties, in recognition of his status as whistleblower and international human rights defender.” (theguardian.com, Oct. 29)...

Michigan political prisoner, the Rev. Edward Pinkney, was transferred on Oct. 6 from a prison close to his wife and attorney to Marquette Branch Prison, 483 miles north. Pinkney, a victim of a frame-up trial and conviction by an all-white jury in Berrien County in western Michigan, was also deprived on Oct. 22 of access to making telephone calls....

The case of Michigan political prisoner the Rev. Edward Pinkney has attracted the attention of — and won support from — professors employed by the Wayne County Community College District, based in and around Detroit. Five faculty members who had been discussing Rev. Pinkney’s plight brought the issue before the Oct. 23 membership meeting of Local 2000 of the American Federation of Teachers....

Mumia Abu-Jamal has been very sick with active symptoms of the hepatitis C virus going back more than six months. At that time he nearly went into a diabetic coma and continues to suffer with a very painful skin condition and anemia. But the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections is refusing to give him immediate treatment for hep C, and a federal magistrate judge has refused to order an injunction requested by Mumiaâ€™s legal team to make the prison system supply such treatment. (Be sure to read the Health Care petition posted here for more background on this struggle, and please sign it.)...

Lumpkin, Ga. — On Sept. 3 at about 10:30 p.m., Corrections Corporation of America management deployed their Special Operations Response Team to brutally suppress hunger strikes, work stoppages and other forms of resistance organized by undocumented people who are currently detained at Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Ga....

In New York City, on Sept. 11, 2015, at All Souls Unitarian Church in
Manhattan, an “Urgent: 911 Report to the Movement on Mumia” meeting was held due to the fact that political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal’s physical condition has reached crisis proportions. He is in need of urgent medical care. Currently, Mumia’s life is in the most danger since the 1990s. His health is failing due to medical neglect by the prison system....

The International Action Center reprints here a speech by Palestinian activist, Rasmea Odeh, originally circulated by the Fight Back News Service. Odeh spoke to the historic Aug. 29 march in Chicago for community control of the police. Fight Back! editors have urged all their readers to go to Cincinnati, Ohio, on Oct. 14, when arguments on the appeal of her unjust conviction are to be heard in federal court....

The Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition (PHSSC) held a press conference Sept. 1 to announce that a historic agreement had been reached in the Ashker v. Brown (Gov. Jerry Brown of California) federal class action suit, representing California prisoners, where the state of California has agreed to end long-term solitary confinement, among other concessions....

It’s been a long, two-and-a-half-year fight to free Carlos Riley Jr., from Durham County jails in North Carolina. However, on Aug. 14, after weeks of family members and supporters packing the county courthouse, a big step was taken towards justice in his case....

Army Pvt. Chelsea Manning, the heroic WikiLeaks whistleblower and transgender activist currently jailed in the U.S. Penitentiary at Leavenworth, is now being threatened with “indefinite solitary confinement.”...

When New York billionaire and GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump launched into his anti-immigrant tirade against Mexicans crossing the border, he was using a long-known political technique of plugging into the live wire of American resentment of “the other.”...

On behalf of Code Pink, International Action Center, Georgia for
Peace, Gandhi BE Magazine, Gandhi for Peace, Euro Palestine, Stop the
War, The Egyptian Revolutionary Council, The National Coalition for
Democracy and Rejection of the Military Coup, The Egyptian Parliament
in Exile, The Conscious Front, and finally, the Gorbah Movement,
We would like to invite you to attend a press conference condemning
the execution of democracy through the execution of Egypt’s only
legitimate president, Mohamed Morsi. Attached are the conference’s
cover letter, press release, as well as a statement signed by numerous
politicians, human rights personalities and organizations....

A major demonstration in Newark, N.J., on July 25 — called the Million People’s March Against Police Brutality, Racial Injustice and Economic Inequality — has gained the support of over 100 community and grassroots organizations, union locals, religious groups, political prisoners defense committees, immigrant rights, women’s and LGBTQ groups. The July 25 march was initiated by the People’s Organization for Progress,which has a long history of mobilizing mass protests against police violence....

The Supreme Court has backed the use of an execution drug used in U.S.
prisons over the objection of death row inmates. By a vote of 5-4, the
court’s five right-wing justices on June 29 gave the stamp of approval to death-penalty states to utilize midazolam during executions. Their ruling in
Glossip v. Gross endorses painful deaths and has been widely denounced by
progressive forces everywhere....

Political prisoner and internationally renowned journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal has once again been taken from the prison infirmary at SCI Mahnoy in Frackville, Pa.; this time to Geisinger Medical Center in Dansville,Pa. about three hours from Philadelphia....

The Baltimore People’s Power Assembly called a special rally and march for May Day, also known as International Worker’s Day, to demand justice for Freddie Grey and general amnesty for the hundreds of Black youth who were arrested during the April 27 rebellion following Grey’s funeral....

On Friday, April 24, Mumia Abu-Jamal was visited by his spouse, Wadiya Jamal,
who reported that his condition has worsened. She saw him again today and he
appears even more gravely ill. Everyone is asked to call the prison and the
Pennsylvania Department of Corrections immediately. If they hang up, call
again. Mumia was released from the prison infirmary three days ago even though he was in no condition to be in general population. His request to be seen by independent medical specialists was denied by the PA Department of Corrections. Yet he is in need of 24-hour care and supervision. He is too weak and in this state he may not be able ask for help. He may lose consciousness....

On March 31 in Washington, D.C., the U.S. and Cuba held the first meeting on the topic of human rights. Cuba proposed this sub-discussion of the ongoing talks aimed at normalizing diplomatic relations and opening embassies that was launched on Dec. 17 by presidents Raúl Castro and Barack Obama....

In Venezuela, Leopoldo López, who is responsible for the violence in the attempted coup against President Nicolás Maduro that left 43 people dead, is being treated very well while imprisoned for the crimes he committed, having access to a gym, computer, visits, etc. In contrast, in the USA, political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal, who has been unjustly framed up for the murder of a cop and has been in prison since 1982 for standing up against racism and police brutality, is being denied a most basic right: adequate health care in a state attempt to assassinate him....

There is a man in the state of Pennsylvania who has a street in France named after him. That man is Mumia Abu-Jamal, a journalist and ex-member of the Black Panther Party — an organization classified as “terrorist” by the U.S. government. A former Black Panther, Mumia is now in his 26th year on Pennsylvania’s death row....

Car caravans carrying over 40 people travelled from Philadelphia and New York City today to SCI Mahanoy prison in Frackville, Pa., in an effort to save the life of Mumia Abu-Jamal. After months of medical neglect, this U.S. political prisoner, who has supporters worldwide, had been diagnosed with and hospitalized for diabetic shock on March 30....

Workers World Party commemorated and celebrated the life and contributions of our beloved comrade, Leslie Feinberg, with a memorial in New York City on March 28 at the Martin Luther King Jr. Labor Center at 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East. Leslie was a member of the party’s national committee....

At 1 p.m. EDT on March 30, political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal had a medical emergency, and was taken to the Intensive Care Unit at Schuylkill Medical Center in Pottsville, Pa. As of this morning, almost no information has been provided by hospital or prison authorities regarding his health and well-being....

The following is a March 30 press release from the Philadelphia International Action Center, which works with MOVE, the Campaign to Bring Mumia Home and others to free Mumia Abu-Jamal. The contact for the release is Betsey Piette, 610-348-8017....

At 1 PM today, Mumia Abu-Jamal had a medical emergency and was taken to Schuylkill Medical Center in Pottsville, PA. He is in the ICU. Mumia's spouse is not being allowed to see him. The only information we are receiving now is that he's receiving an insulin drip for his diabetes. ...

Women are the fastest growing prison population in the U.S. due primarily to harsh sentencing for nonviolent crimes and drug offenses. Over the last three decades the number of women incarcerated has mushroomed, though they account for less than 7 percent of the country’s 2.4 million inmates. This gives the U.S. the highest proportion of prisoners of any country in the world....

Jim Crow justice: These three words describe why Rodney Reed, an African-American man, has been on Texas’ death row since 1998, facing a March 5 execution date. Reed was convicted of murdering Stacey Stites, a white woman with whom he had an intimate relationship in Bastrop, Texas....

A standing-room-only crowd gathered at the Kingsessing Recreational Center in Philadelphia on Jan. 31 for a celebration of the life of William Phillips, better known as Phil Africa. A MOVE 9 member, he died under suspicious circumstances at Pennsylvania’s SCI Dallas prison on Jan. 10 at the age of 59....

On December 15, 2014 the Rev. Edward Pinkney of Benton Harbor, Michigan was thrown into prison for 2.5 to 10 years. This 66-year-old leading African American activist was tried and convicted in front of an all-white jury and racist white judge and prosecutor for supposedly altering 5 dates on a recall petition against the mayor of Benton Harbor.
...

New Year’s Eve marked the one-year anniversary of the release from
prison of people’s lawyer Lynne Stewart, who was imprisoned for
“aiding and abetting a terrorist organization.” Her client in the
case was Egyptian Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, whom the U.S. government labeled a terrorist and convicted. On Dec. 31, 2013, Stewart was granted a compassionate medical release due to her metastatic cancer....

MOVE 9 member Phil Africa died in prison on Jan. 10 under what family members are calling “suspicious circumstances.” Six days earlier, Africa reportedly wasn’t feeling well and went to the prison infirmary in the State Correctional Institution at Dallas, Pa. MOVE members who drove to SCI-Dallas were denied a visit by the prison....

My name is Assata Shakur, and I am a 20th century escaped slave. Because of government persecution, I was left with no other choice than to flee from the political repression, racism and violence that dominate the U.S. government’s policy towards people of color. I am an ex-political prisoner, and I have been living in exile in Cuba since 1984....

On behalf of anti-fascists and anti-war activists in the United States, Colombia, France, Greece and the United Kingdom who are organizing in solidarity with the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, we appeal urgently to you to secure the immediate release of four activists reportedly being held by the Vostok Battalion....

Since my election as President of the State Council and Council of Ministers I have reiterated on many occasions our willingness to hold a respectful dialogue with the United States on the basis of sovereign equality, in order to deal reciprocally with a wide variety of topics without detriment to the national independence and self-determination of our people....

Michigan political prisoner the Rev. Edward Pinkney, now being held in Jackson State Prison, remains in good spirits despite the racist injustice that has landed him there. He was sentenced to up to 10 years for supposedly changing the dates on five signatures on a petition to recall Benton Harbor Mayor James Hightower....

This powerful gathering brought together primarily Black activists from many Southern states to discuss campaigns and conditions of the region and develop strategies for building an anti-racist human rights movement as well as the re-emergence of a national, unified Black liberation movement....

Since the police killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., on
Aug. 9, and then the failure of a grand jury to indict white police officer
Darren Wilson, mass demonstrations and rebellions have erupted across the
country, bringing national and international attention to the plight of African
Americans at the hands of law enforcement, the grand jury system and
prosecutors....

Another racist injustice has been committed. Here
on Dec. 14, Berrien County Judge Sterling Schrock sentenced the Rev. Edward
Pinkney, leader of the Black Autonomy Network Community Organization, to 30 to
120 months after a trial by an all-white jury....

The government of the United States has done what it
repeatedly swore it would never do: It has freed the last of the Cuban 5.
Today Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino and Gerardo
Hernández were finally released from U.S. jails after more than 16 years
of unjust imprisonment. René González and Fernando González had
already served their full prison terms and returned to Cuba. Those whom René González termed “the jury of millions”
— who had organized, picketed, written letters, signed
petitions, collected money for newspaper ads, investigated, inveighed on
parliamentarians, climbed mountains, rode bicycles, tweeted, wrote poems,
plays, songs and more in every corner of the globe — rejoiced. The
steadfast Cuban people joyfully welcomed their heroes: the five men who
sacrificed so much to protect them from terrorist attacks launched from U.S.
territory during the 1990s....

The Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on CIA torture reveals in detail the unrestrained brutality its operatives have carried out at secret sites around the world. Reading the disclosures in the 500-page executive summary of the committee’s findings is somewhat comparable to witnessing the strangling of Eric Garner by the police in Staten Island or hearing the testimony of witnesses who saw the unarmed, 18-year-old Michael Brown shot down in cold blood in Ferguson, Mo....

Clarence Moses-El has been in prison since 1987, when he was sentenced to 48 years in jail for a crime he did not commit. He has maintained his innocence since the beginning. The three people originally identified as suspects by the victim were never arrested nor were they ever questioned....

I was thinking about the national holiday, “Thanksgiving,” the other day. I won’t even go into what a horrible shame this American holiday is based on. Instead, I will just let it remind me of the common bond I have with all my brothers and sisters of the Earth. Even if Thanksgiving, the holiday, is based on an incorrect portrayal of history, the concept of being thankful is a universal truth. I mean, let’s face it, being thankful/grateful has been part of Indian Nations much longer than the invention of a holiday....

Hundreds of people from across the country marched to the Stewart Detention Center in rural southwestern Georgia on Nov. 21, demanding the for-profit prison be shut down. Operated by Corrections Corporation of America, the medium security facility holds upwards of 1,900 immigrant detainees....

The 45th commemoration of the National Day of Mourning on Nov. 27 in Plymouth, Mass., will again honor Native political prisoner Leonard Peltier, a heroic fighter for the rights of Indigenous and other oppressed peoples. Peltier has been unjustly imprisoned for 38 years....

>Attorneys representing political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal filed a lawsuit in federal court in Harrisburg, Pa., on Nov. 10 seeking to overturn a Pennsylvania censorship bill that had been quickly passed in October and then signed into law by outgoing Gov. Tom Corbett....

With the death of Mr. Thomas Eric Duncan shortly after his arrival from Liberia, West Africa, the Ebola crisis has burst onto millions of news screens, generating deep levels of fear and xenophobia....

Rasmea’s supporters packed the courtroom in anticipation of her taking
the stand, but the day began first with the continued testimony and cross
examination of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Agent Douglas
Scott Pierce. Under cross by defense attorney Jim Fennerty, Pierce revealed
that in a previous case, he had testified that the questions on the
naturalization forms can be “confusing,” especially for those who
do not have fluency in the English language, and also acknowledged that older
forms previously asked specifically about crimes, arrests, imprisonment, etc.,
“inside or outside the United States.”
...

Philadelphia — At a time when more and more convictions are being reversed and prisoners released because of improper, racist and even criminal actions by prosecuting attorneys, some of it exposed through DNA evidence, the state of Pennsylvania is rushing through a gag order to keep prisoners from being able to speak out to the public, especially when the prisoners are political, like Mumia Abu-Jamal....

Lots of media were on hand today in Philadelphia to record the moment when Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett put his signature on the “Revictimization Relief Act” — dubbed the “Silence Mumia Law” by civil rights activists. But Corbett had a problem: None of the media could hear him speak. Nearly 50 protesters, standing a short distance away from Corbett’s press conference at 13th and Locust streets, drowned him out with constant chants of “Our brother Mumia is under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!” and “One term Tom!”...

More often than not college commencement speakers are corporate CEOs, bankers or politicians — the people who will exercise control over students’ futures by exploiting their labor, piling mountains of student loan debt on them or starting endless wars that threaten the very futures of them and their families....

The scene could have been scripted by Hollywood, except this time the prison guards and cops were certainly not the heroes. In the late night hours of Labor Day, Sept. 1, during a guard shift change, 32 young men, Black, Brown and white, broke through the walls of their dorms and slipped out underneath the fence of the Woodland Youth Development Center, a state-run youth prison in Nashville, Tenn. Since then, all but six of the youth have been apprehended....

Preparations are underway for an evening of “Love and Resistance for
Imam Jamil Al-Amin,” on Sept. 12 in New York City. Al-Amin, formerly
known as H. Rap Brown, is suffering from serious illnesses and is currently
being held at the Butner Federal Medical Center in North Carolina....

Ziyad Yaghi is a Palestinian American and a political prisoner. Represented by a court-appointed attorney, this young North Carolina man was convicted of a conspiracy to provide material support to an unknown terrorist group, at an unknown time in an unspecified place....

The International Action Center demands along with many others the long-overdue freedom for Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin (formerly H. Rap Brown), who is currently housed at the U.S. Penitentiary, Administrative Maximum Facility in Florence, Colo....

San Francisco — A coalition of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer groups held a protest on the theme “Prison Breaks, Not Prison Parties” on June 28 during Pride weekend here. It was meant to shame the website kink.com for holding a “Prison of Love Pride Party.” Participants had been invited to “get arrested and enjoy solitary confinement.”...

Her name was Yuri, a Japanese woman born in the United States. I hesitate to
call her a Japanese-American, for to do so suggests she was a citizen. In
light of how she, her family and her community were treated during World War
II, especially after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, to call any of them
citizens would be an exaggeration....

The following is based on releases that the Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA) issued on June 5. They concern the deteriorating health of long-term political prisoner Imam Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, who in the 1960s and 1970s, under his name at the time, H. Rap Brown, was a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) for six years and was briefly in the Black Panther Party....

Cuba is awaiting the return of Gerardo Hernández, Ramón
Labañino and Antonio Guerrero, the three of the Cuban 5 who remain
unjustly held in U.S. prisons. Along with René González and Fernando
González, who served their full sentences and returned to Cuba, these five
men are heroes who risked their own lives to infiltrate Miami-based gangs who
were bombing Cuban hotels and restaurants during the 1990s....

Washington, D.C. — Westminster Church hosted an exhibit and sale of reproductions of watercolors by Antonio Guerrero, titled “I will die as I have lived,” on May 17. Guerrero is one of the unjustly imprisoned Cuban Five, who are the focus of an international campaign to free them from U.S. prisons....

Cecily McMillan, a 25-year-old progressive activist, was convicted of assault on a police officer in New York City Criminal Court on May 5. Now a convicted felon, she could receive a sentence of between two and seven years in prison....

Following the March 7 and 8 International Commission of Inquiry by Voices for the Five in London, efforts are now turned to building the Third ‘5 Days for the Cuban 5’ in Washington D.C. from 4-11 June 2014.The final report of London's International Commission of Inquiry will be presented to the U.S. public and will then be delivered direct to the Obama administration. The week of activities in Washington will bring together personalities from the U.S. and abroad, including jurists, parliamentarians, writers, intellectuals, activists and religious people to call for the freedom of the Cuban 5, five men unjustly imprisoned in U.S. prisons for defending their country against terrorism. René González, one of the Five who returned to Cuba after serving his entire sentence recently said. “The decision of arresting the Cuban 5 was made in Washington and it is there where the final decision of freeing them will take place.”...

ore than 80 events were held across the U.S. around the theme of “Not
1 More Deportation!” on April 5, the date immigrant rights activists
estimated that the 2 millionth person would be deported under the
administration of President Barack Obama. The actions were coordinated by
the National Day Labor Organizing Network, which says that the 2 million
deportations are “2 million too many.”...

Some 260 leftist political activists from 39 countries, mostly in Latin
America and the Caribbean but including people from around the world, gathered
in Mexico City from March 27 to 29. They joined hundreds from the hosting Labor
Party (Partido del Trabajo or PT) at its 18th International Seminar. Some 100
speakers, from a broad range of left political positions, spoke on many
subjects with a common thread: the danger posed by Washington’s
aggressive posture toward all countries south of the U.S. border and especially
toward the Bolivarian government of Venezuela....

On April 24, political prisoner and world-renowned
journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal turns 60. He has spent over half his life in
solitary confinement on Pennsylvania’s death row, and most recently,
since early 2012, he has been in general population at SCI Mahanoy
where he still faces life in prison despite ample evidence of his
innocence....

People across the country are outraged by Florida State Attorney Angela
Corey’s recent decision to retry Marissa Alexander, a Black woman and a
survivor of intimate partner violence who defended herself against her
attacker, with the possibility of a 60-year prison sentence....

The atmosphere was electric and filled with optimism on
March 8 as a dynamic march took over the sidewalks of the East Village and then
went up Sixth Avenue toward midtown Manhattan. The march commemorated the 104th
anniversary of International Working Women’s Day....

Some 500 people gathered here at St. Peters
“Jazz” Church on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14, to celebrate the
Dec. 31 release of 74-year-old people’s lawyer Lynne Stewart from maximum
security at Carswell Federal Medical Center prison in Fort Worth, Texas, after
four years behind bars....

After spending 15 years unjustly imprisoned for fighting terrorism, Fernando
González, one of the Cuban Five, is scheduled to be released from federal
prison on Feb. 27. Fernando will be the second of the Five to be released.
René González was released in October 2011 after serving his entire
sentence....

Under increasing pressure and scrutiny from civil rights groups, public
polls — and even their own imperialist allies — the National
Security Agency, which has been carrying out massive programs of domestic
spying, is beginning to show serious cracks in its armor of secrecy and
criminality....

We are asking people to make at least one call to demand that Clarence Moses-El be released from prison, where he is in the 27th year of a 48 sentence for a crime he did not commit.Your calls are important and will have an impact....

On Jan. 17, dozens of people gathered for a press conference and protest
outside Fox News in Philadelphia to denounce the attacks of Fox analysts and
the Fraternal Order of Police on political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal and on Debo
Adegbile, President Barack Obama’s nominee to the U.S. Department of
Justice, because of Adegbile’s legal advocacy work for Abu-Jamal....

Clarence Moses-El has been in prison since 1987, when he was sentenced to 48 years in jail for a crime he did not commit. He has maintained his innocence since the beginning. The three people originally identified as suspects by the victim were never arrested nor were they ever questioned....

It has been a long and tortured haul — from judge to judge, from bias
to hatred (with no small amount of jealousy, we might add) — to punish
Stewart, not because of her words in the press, but because of her advocacy on
behalf of the poor, the oppressed, the dispossessed, the targeted and the
powerless....

A heartfelt thanks to all who stood by Lynne with letters, emails, petitions
and telephone calls to the Federal Medical Center, Carswell, U.S. Federal
Bureau of Prisons, Attorney General's Office, U.S. Department of Justice,
members of Congress, the White House and U.S. Embassies and who organized and participated in vigils, demonstrations, rallies and speak-outs throughout the
world....

Safe at home with her son in Brooklyn, where she will live, surrounded by a loving family and friends, Lynne described her four years in prison as horrible. She told of how she barely survived the life-threatening chemotherapy treatments. She stressed that she won’t forget the women that she left behind in the prison, and that she’ll fight for criminal justice system reforms. We also reflect back to this past summer and the many weeks that Ralph stood in front of the White House in Washington, D.C., in the rain and sweltering heat, with his signs, banner and leaflets; speaking to anyone who would listen about Lynne’s plight. He and a group of supporters protested in front of the U.S. Justice Department against the director’s refusal to approve Lynne’s request for compassionate release. Ralph said he saw no acceptable alternative other than to fight like hell for Lynne’s release. His unwavering love, spirit, strength and determination were contagious. How could anyone knowing him or Lynne not join in the struggle? Or not give up?
...

Well, the impossible takes a little longer !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We
learned this morning that the US Attorney's office has made the motion for
my compassionate release and that the Order was on Judge Koeltl's desk.
Since on the last go-round he stated in Court that he would treat it
"favorably", we are now just waiting expectantly....So If this reaches you before midnight tonight raise a glass of bubbly to the joy of all of us that the old girl is OUT !!...

Millions for Mumia, an anti-death penalty project of the International Action
Center since 1999, strongly urges its friends and allies to support the
important efforts by the Campaign to Bring Mumia Home especially the $60 for
Mumia's 60th birthday appeal. The Campaign stresses that $60,000 can be raised if 1,000 people donate $60; there is an incentive for the first 100 people who donate. Also $60 is around the cost of one dinner for two or movie tickets for four adults....

We, the undersigned, call on Attorney General Eric Holder and the U.S. Department of Justice to intervene in the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal and recommend that Governor Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania immediately release Abu-Jamal from prison. In 2011, the death sentence of this world-renowned journalist was declared unconstitutional and commuted to life without parole for allegedly murdering Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981. Abu-Jamal is an outstanding citizen, who has been racially profiled and targeted for his political affiliations by a Philadelphia police department with a long history of brutality and corruption. For thirty years, he has been denied basic rights. ...

"I need to ask once again for your assistance in forcing the Bureau of Prisons to grant my Compassionate Release. They have been stonewalling since August and my life expectancy, as per my cancer doctor, is down to 12 months. They know that I am fully qualified and that over 40,000 people have signed on to force them to do the right thing, which is to let me go home to my family and to receive advanced care in New York City. ...

Just after an extended period of time in lockdown, one of the Cuban Five
political prisoners inside the U.S., Hero of the Republic of Cuba Gerardo
Hernández Nordelo, dedicated this short message to the memory of Nelson
Mandela....

Marissa Alexander, the 34-year-old African-American woman who was sentenced
to 20 years in prison for defending herself against her abusive former spouse,
was released on $200,000 bail on Nov. 27. She will remain under house
arrest and electronic monitoring in her Jacksonville, Fla., home until her
retrial, which is tentatively set for this coming March 31....

In an inspiring event Nov. 1 at Hibernian Hall in Roxbury’s Dudley
Square, the heart of Boston’s African-American community, about 200
people, many of them Boston school bus drivers, attended the Boston premiere of the documentary film “Mumia Abu-Jamal: Long Distance
Revolutionary.” The event was emceed by Miya X of the Women’s Fightback Network....

The controversial documentary “Let the Fire Burn” had its
Philadelphia premiere on Oct. 26 during the 2013 Philadelphia Film Festival.
Introducing the film, which is about the 1985 bombing of the MOVE house by
Philadelphia police, director Jason Osder described it as “one of the
most relevant films to be shown during the festival.”...

Marissa Alexander, the 34-year-old African-American woman who was sentenced
to 20 years in prison for defending herself against her former abusive spouse,
has been granted a new trial. This announcement came 12 days after a Sept. 14
Nationwide Day of Rallies for Marissa Alexander. Many cities held support
actions demanding “Let’s get her out!”

Even before this call was made on Facebook, thousands of people here and
around the world signed petitions and held numerous protests — including
the youth-led Dream Defenders who sat in at the Florida State Capitol this
summer — demanding that her outrageous conviction be overturned....

On Sept. 20, a liberal media voice in Miami, National Public Radio station
WLRN, aired a “news” discussion about the Cuban 5 after another
program on the same station cancelled an earlier interview about Stephen
Kimber’s new book: “What Lies Across the Water: the Real Story of
the Cuban Five.” Kimber’s website quoted the original program
host/producer concluding that “the topic is too ‘incendiary’
and [he] fears a negative reaction from certain segments of the
community.” A quick reversal came after a press release from the
International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5 made the censorship
known....

Cubans festooned their island with yellow ribbons on Sept. 12, marking the
15th anniversary of the arrest of five Cuban men in Miami. Even the Washington
Post, which has ignored or been hostile to the campaign to free the Cuban 5,
published an Associated Press article that day headlined “Havana dresses
up with yellow ribbons in campaign to push for Cuban 5 agents’
release.”...

In this age of horribly destructive weapons and the ability of U.S.
government agencies to pore over everyone’s private communications
— if they are digitized, as most are — there is a tendency to
regard the capitalist state as all-powerful, a juggernaut that can roll over
everyone if it wants....

He’s still glowing, days later. On Aug. 10, Ralph Poynter, spouse of “the people’s lawyer,” Lynne Stewart, visited Mumia Abu-Jamal in SCI Mahanoy Prison in Pennsylvania for the first time. Both Stewart and Abu-Jamal are political prisoners....

On Aug. 8, District Judge John Koetl rejected Lynne Stewart’s most
recent appeal for compassionate release from prison, claiming that the court
cannot intervene until the Federal Bureau of Prisons has filed a motion in
support of her release....

To clarify the injustice in the verdict finding Pfc. B. Manning guilty of 20
of the charges against this anti-war hero, contrast it with the record of real
war criminal George W. Bush. To keep it simple, examine their role regarding
only the U.S. war against Iraq....

Lynne Stewart's condition is deteriorating rapidly. Medical treatment to
arrest the cancer that is metastasizing in her body has been halted because she
is too weak to receive it. She remains in isolation, as her white blood cell
count is so low that she is at risk for generalized infection. The U.S. Bureau
of Prisons has unjustly denial Lynne Stewart’s request for compassionate
release. This denial is being challenged both legally by Lynne and by the
demonstration of people power on the streets of New York City, Los Angeles,
Washington D.C. The court hearing could result in Lynne's conditional
release by Judge Koeltl, so it is crucial that the court sees the love and
support that Lynne has.

Lynne Stewart's condition is deteriorating rapidly. Medical treatment to
arrest the cancer that is metastasizing in her body has been halted because she
is too weak to receive it. She remains in isolation, as her white blood cell
count is so low that she is at risk for generalized infection. Send a message
to Bureau of Prisons Director Charles E. Samuels Jr. that he must reverse his
decision. Long-time National Lawyers Guild member and activist lawyer Lynne
Stewart needs our help and she needs it now! The Federal Bureau of Prisons has
denied Lynne Stewart's application for compassionate release, despite
recommendations in favor from the warden at her facility, the Regional Office
Director, and vetting of Stewart's release plans by the Federal Probation
Office in New York....

While the corporate media covered every word, gesture and animated cartoon
promoting the defense of Trayvon Martin’s killer, it paid little
attention to whistleblower Pfc. B. Manning’s defense. They did report
that military trial judge, Col. Denise Lind, ruled July 18 that Manning could
face “aiding the enemy” charges....

The struggle to win compassionate release for the imprisoned,
cancer-stricken people’s lawyer, Lynne Stewart, is still very much in the
forefront of the progressive movement’s agenda.

The 73-year-old Stewart is currently in her fourth year of serving a 10-year
sentence in Carswell Federal Prison in Fort Worth, Texas, on a fabricated
“aiding terrorism” conviction for legally representing Sheik Omar
Abdel Rahman, who was falsely imprisoned for “sedition” in the 1995
bombing of the World Trade Center....

The Federal Bureau of Prisons has DENIED Lynne Stewart’s
application for compassionate release. Director Charles E. Samuels, Jr. took
this action despite recommendations for compassionate release from Federal
Medical Center, Carswell Warden Jody R. Upton and South Central Regional Office Director J.A. Keller, as well as the vetting of Stewart’s release plans by the Federal Probation Office in New York. The struggle to free Lynne Stewart continues on many fronts. First and foremost, each and every one of us must increase the number of people worldwide who sign the petition. Lynne Stewart’s condition is deteriorating rapidly. Medical treatment to
arrest the cancer that is metastasizing in her body has been halted because she is too weak to receive it. She remains in isolation, as her white blood cell
count is so low that she is at risk for generalized infection...

Lynne Stewart's husband Ralph Poynter
was informed by Lynne this morning that she received a three-paragraph letter
from Kathleen Kenney, General Counsel for the Federal Bureau of Prisons in
Washington, D.C. in which Compassionate Release has been denied on the grounds that Lynne's "health is improving."...

The following excerpted points of unity were initiated by TransJustice of
the Audre Lorde Project, a lesbian, gay, bisexual, two-spirit, trans and gender
non-conforming people of color center for community organizing....

Lynne Stewart's husband Ralph Poynter was informed by Lynne this morning
that she received a three-paragraph letter from Kathleen Kenney, General
Counsel for the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Washington, D.C. in which
Compassionate Release has been denied on the grounds that Lynne's
"health is improving." This claim is at once cynical and false.Lynne
Stewart's cancer continues to spread in her lungs. She remains in isolation
as her white blood cell count remains so low that she is at risk for
generalized infection. She weakens daily. We call upon all committed to the
effort to secure Lynne Stewart's release and to save her life to stand by
for further notice of the response from Lynne, her husband Ralph Poynter, her
family and her lawyers – announcing the next actions that we, her
supporters, will launch in response to this appalling betrayal of compassion
and justice.
...

Every minute's delay compromises Lynne Stewart's life and her access to the loving care of her family and the comprehensive treatment plan prepared for her at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York....

CNY Solidarity marched loud and proud at Central
New York Pride on June 15. Youth activists organized and led the contingent.
The number of marchers participating in the group doubled from the 2012
march....

This year’s Pride march in downtown Detroit on June 9 raised a timely
slogan: “Marching toward equality.” Most lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender and queer people in Michigan have no legal protection from
discrimination — they can be fired, evicted or denied access to public
accommodations such as restaurants, hotels or health clubs. Only 24 Michigan
cities have protective ordinances. The most recently passed ordinance, in the
Detroit suburb of Royal Oak, could be overturned by a right-wing ballot
initiative. An anti-marriage amendment to the state Constitution is one of the
country’s most restrictive....

The continuing campaign to gain Compassionate Release for Lynne Stewart -- the
grievously ill, imprisoned human rights attorney -- is headed to Washington,
D.C. Despite being approved for compassionate release, Stewart continues to be
held in Carswell Federal Prison in seriously deteriorating health. Lynne
Stewart’s spouse, the 79-year-old social justice activist Ralph Poynter,
will lead a continuing vigil in front of the White House starting on Monday,
June 17. Poynter urges all those concerned with justice, compassion and basic
human rights to join him whether they are available for an hour, for the day,
or for the duration. He will be at the White House and making visits to the
Federal Bureau of Prisons several blocks away, at 320 First St. NW, Washington
D.C., 20534....

Although the British government offered a formal apology and modest
compensation for the crimes committed against the people of Kenya during the
war of independence between 1952 and 1960, many of the veterans of the struggle
say that the existing list of victims is not complete....

To the cheers of thousands, queer liberation, anti-war, and Pfc. B. Manning
contingents marched in united fashion with the International Action
Center’s Stonewall Warriors in this year’s Boston Gay Pride March
on June 8. Banners and placards supporting wrongfully imprisoned
African-American transwoman CeCe MacDonald festooned the contingent.
Progressive African-American Boston City Councilor Charles Yancey, a candidate
for mayor, and openly gay Afro-Latino Francisco White, an at-large candidate
for City Council, marched along with the contingent....

Please take time Wed-Thurs-Fri, June 12-14 to make calls for Lynne. An all-out effort is needed NOW! Your calls are having an impact. AND IF YOU CAN, JOIN RALPH POYNTER AT NOON ON MONDAY JUNE 17 IN FRONT OF THE WHITE HOUSE....

René González, the first of the
Cuban Five to be released from U.S. jails, was the first speaker at the press
conference on May 30 in Washington, D.C., that opened the Second “Five
Days for the Five.” The purpose of this international event is to take up
the case of the Cuban Five and raise awareness about both this serious criminal
injustice and the overall criminal U.S. policy toward the Republic of Cuba....

One month ago I made a request for compassionate release which was honored by the warden at Carswell Federal Medical Center.Today the papers are still on a desk in Washington, D.C. even though the terminal cancer that I have contracted requires expeditious action....

On May 3, the U.S. government falsely branded Assata Shakur … as a
“terrorist,” placing her name as the first woman on the most-wanted
terrorist list, with obvious alternative motives, but supposedly for the false
charges 40 years ago. This act is doubly scurrilous as it implies that Cuba, a
country that has suffered nearly 3,500 deaths from relentless U.S.-based
terrorist attacks since its revolution for sovereignty in 1959, harbors
“terrorists” because in the 1970s and 80s it gave Shakur and other
Black freedom fighters refuge. The National Network on Cuba rejects this
slanderous act and demands that it be reversed immediately....

The International Petition Campaign to Free Lynne Stewart and Save Her Life is gratified to report that today, May 13, following urgent communications from former Attorney General Ramsey Clark and social activist Dick Gregory, that Federal Bureau of Prisons General Counsel Kathleen Kenney telephoned Ramsey Clark to advise that a recommendation of Compassionate Release for Lynne Stewart from FMC Carswell Warden Jody R. Upton is on the desk of FBP Director Charles E. Samuels, Jr. with a full package of documentation....

This week there have been enormous developments in the worldwide campaign to gain compassionate release for imprisoned people’s lawyer Lynne Stewart. The wheels are beginning to turn. We must redouble all efforts!...

On May 3, 2013, from 7pm-9pm, the first ever collection of writings by former
Black Panther and political prisoner Russell “Maroon” Shoatz
– entitled “Maroon the Implacable” -- will be officially
released at New York’s DiMenna Center....

On April 24, in celebration of political prisoner
Mumia Abu-Jamal’s 59th birthday, hundreds of people from several
East Coast cities rallied outside the Center City office of Philadelphia
District Attorney Seth Williams to demand Abu-Jamal’s release....

The death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has brought out the
malicious and carnal glee of the corporate press, who report breathlessly, not
only on his mortal passing, but an end to the Bolivarian Revolution.

They are the voices of their vampire, Wall Street bosses, who delight in
owning more of the earth, no matter how much misery they may cause for
millions....

He came from humble beginnings from among the teeming millions in Venezuelan
poverty and joined the army as much to make a living as to serve the people.
He and a group of mid-level military officers staged an unsuccessful coup
in February, 1992 against the corrupt regime of President Carlos Andrés
Pérez. Within eight years, the man that led the coup would be elected
president and Hugo Chávez would proclaim Venezuela as home of the
revolutionary liberator, Simón Bolívar, who fought and prevailed
against Spanish colonialists for Latin American independence early in the 19th
century....

Another status conference pertaining to the Central Park 5 civil lawsuit
against New York City and the New York Police Department was held on Feb. 19.
Supporters filled the large federal courtroom in downtown Manhattan to indicate
their justifiable outrage regarding the lack of progress in bringing closure to
this horrific, racist injustice....

The new form of global warfare alleges to “protect” by
preemptively preventing mass atrocities. Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, a U.S.-educated
academic and mother, is caught in its web and now serving 86 years in a federal
prison in Texas....

In support of efforts to pressure the U.S. government to repatriate Dr.
Aafia Siddiqui to Pakistan, former U.S. Congressperson Cynthia McKinney and
International Action Center Co-Director Sara Flounders traveled to Pakistan
last December...

An important film documentary about the life of Mumia Abu-Jamal premiered in
New York City on Feb. 1. “Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey with
Mumia Abu-Jamal” explores through prison interviews, archival footage and
narrations, the life of a political prisoner known as “the voice of the
voiceless.” It was written and directed by Stephen Vittoria and
co-produced by Noelle Hanrahan from Prison Radio....

You know Mumia. You know his words, you know his voice, you know his
struggle. And you know that his life's story has been obscured by the
controversy of his case, by the vindictive and fallacious narrative told about
him by media outlets, both mainstream and right-wing. This new documentary film
is here to recast that narrative, to tell the true story of Mumia from his
childhood, to the dawn of his political consciousness (as you know at a very
young age), to his early career as a journalist, to his incredible output of
books and commentaries from Death Row and beyond....

Minneapolis — Transgender activist and author Leslie Feinberg declared
in court here on Feb. 4 that she/ze was “not guilty” on a charge of
third-degree gross misdemeanor (property damage) for spray-painting “Free
CeCe Now” on the walls and pillars of the courthouse/jail in
Minneapolis....

International Action Center co-director Sara Flounders was interviewed by RT News on Jan. 29 regarding the trials held by the U.S. military at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; U.S. secret prisons; and the use of torture by the U.S. Her comments also included the case of Aafia Siddiqui and other Muslim political prisoners. The six-minute video segment can be seen at tinyurl.com/atf88t8....

Philadelphia — United around the goal “Mumia, Free in 4!” — meaning his release in four years — dedicated activists from several U.S. cities, France and Germany gathered at Temple University on Jan. 26 for a conference organized by Educators for Mumia Abu-Jamal....

Of all the words I’ve penned over decades — as a revolutionary
journalist and editor; a writer/worker of leaflets, pamphlets and books; and a
proud member of the National Writers Union, UAW Local 1981 — I’m
proudest of writing these three words: “Free CeCe Now!”

I spray-painted those words — the peoples’ verdict — on
the jailhouse/courthouse fortress walls and pillars at the end of a solidarity
“noise” demonstration for CeCe McDonald, in Minneapolis on June 4,
2012....

According to UN investigations in 2010 there are more than 27,000 prisoners held by the U.S. in more than 100 secret prisons around the world and on 17 ships as floating prisons. These are almost entirely Muslim prisoners....

Tickets are now on sale ahead of the official date. Please buy tickets now
and/or reach out to ALL OF YOUR CONTACTS to buy pre-sale tickets for the
opening weekend, February 1-2-3. The greater the presale, the greater chance
the film has of opening in the largest screen at Cinema Village, the greater
chance Mumia has of making waves in NYC. We MUST PACK THE HOUSE for Mumia. This may be a film out in the marketplace but it is not our moment, it is his moment and we must make the most of it. Now is the time.
...

The only thing that surprised me when I heard that the Algerian kidnappers
had called for the release of Dr Aafia Siddiqui was that it hadn’t
happened sooner. Don’t get me wrong, as a former hostage myself, there is no way I condone the actions of what has unfolded in a remote corner of the
Algerian desert. And my heart goes out to the families of those who have lost
loved ones in the unfolding drama at the In Amenas gas plant siege said to have
been masterminded by Mohktar Belmokhtar. The infamous one-eyed Algerian
militant apparently with ties to al Qaida, has claimed responsibility for
launching Wednesday’s attack. It also goes without saying there is no way the kidnappers, whether politically or criminally motivated, can be justified
in their actions....

On Dec. 31, outgoing North Carolina governor, Beverly Perdue, pardoned the
Wilmington 10 — the Rev. Benjamin Chavis, Connie Tindall, Marvin Patrick,
Wayne Moore, Reginald Epps, Jerry Jacobs, James McKoy, Willie Earl Vereen,
William Wright, Jr. and Ann Shepard — who had sentences ranging from 15
to 34 years following their convictions in 1972. Perdue was forced to publicly
admit that their sentences were “tainted by naked racism.” (CNN,
Jan. 1) A prolonged national and international struggle emerged in efforts to
free the nine African Americans and one white member of the 10....

It is fitting that we gather today. As icy winds whip against the walls of Riverside Church, we celebrate the work and life of Ramsey Clark and the International Action Center — Ramsey’s 85th year and the IAC’s 20....

It is a political creation – made by Congress itself, as a self- made
rule to force agreement (but really to blackmail political opponents), or else
massive cuts will be automatically made in defense, social services and other
government programs....

The first question asked after Ramsey Clark’s speech last weekend does
not have an easy answer. Clark, 84, a former Attorney General who served under
Lyndon Johnson, traveled to Nebraska on a humanitarian mission to visit Ed
Poindexter and Mondo We Langa (David Rice) at the Nebraska State Penitentiary.
The men, now 68 and 66 years old, have been incarcerated for forty-two years
for the 1970 bombing death of an Omaha police officer, a crime they insist they
did not commit....

Arriving in Karachi, Pakistan, at 4 a.m. for a trip in support of efforts to free and repatriate Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, former U.S. Congressperson Cynthia McKinney and International Action Center Co-Director Sara Flounders received an overwhelmingly warm welcome on Dec. 2. Hundreds of Siddiqui’s supporters met the two at the airport in the wee hours of the morning, carrying flowers, signs and banners, and chanting “Free Aafia!” and “Welcome!”...

Arriving in Karachi, Pakistan, at 4 a.m. for a trip in
support of efforts to free and repatriate Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, former U.S.
Congressperson Cynthia McKinney and International Action Center Co-Director
Sara Flounders received an overwhelmingly warm welcome on Dec. 2. Hundreds of
Siddiqui’s supporters met the two at the airport in the wee hours of the
morning, carrying flowers, signs and banners, and chanting “Free
Aafia!” and “Welcome!”...

In support of continuing efforts to pressure the U.S. government to
repatriate Dr. Aafia Siddiqui to Pakistan, former U.S. Congressperson Cynthia
McKinney and International Action Center Co-Director Sara Flounders will travel
to Pakistan from Dec. 2-9.

The trip will focus on due process and justice and expose U.S. practices of
secret renditions, illegal confinement and torture — practices
highlighted by Siddiqui’s case....

As part of a continuing campaign to secure the repatriation of Dr. Aafia
Siddiqui to Pakistan, former U.S. Congress member Cynthia McKinney and
International Action Center Co-Director Sara Flounders will travel to Pakistan
Dec 2 to 9. Their visit is not the first delegation. It is part of continuing
series of meetings organized by Dr Fowzia Siddiqui, Aafia Siddiqui's
sister, and the Free Aafia Movement to help to strengthen the international
campaign for the release of this Pakistani political prisoner held for years in
solitary confinement and sentenced in 2010 to 86 years in U.S. federal prison....

A step forward toward building people’s power was taken in
Philadelphia when activists met on Sept. 26 in the western part of the city.
The People’s Power Assembly had been preceded by a series of speakouts
during the summer where community residents addressed the issues that concerned
them....

Racism is a weapon of war. We stand in solidarity with
victims of police, state, and racial violence and build links to people under
attack – Muslims, Sikhs, immigrant workers, death row prisoners,
­African-American and Latino youth, social justice ­activists are all
targets in an atmosphere of escalating racism and
repression....

Following on what organizers describe as a hugely
successful community gathering of over 2000 people at Riverside Church, a
coalition of sponsoring groups is calling for a meeting with Gov. Andrew Cuomo
at his New York office on September 26 to discuss shutting down the notorious
Attica Correctional Facility....

As activists gear up for a Sept. 14 event in New York promoting the struggle
to free Mumia Abu-Jamal, the state of Philadelphia has lodged another attack
against him. On Aug. 15, this internationally revered political prisoner was
illegally sentenced to life imprisonment....

Nine years after the crushing to death of Rachel Aliene Corrie by an Israeli
bulldozer, a judge in Haifa has absolved the state of Israel of any
responsibility, either for her death or for failing to hold a full and credible
investigation....

On the day following the 41st anniversary of the Attica­massacre of courageous prisoners rising up against intolerable oppression, we come together to fight mass ­incarceration and to demand the closing of Attica as a symbolic commitment to this larger goal. We build on the powerful commemoration that took place last September 9 at Riverside Church....

On Aug. 13, 2012, without any notice and in violation of his constitutional rights and state law, Mumia Abu-Jamal was formally sentenced by Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Pamela Dembe to life imprisonment without parole. The impact of this illegal sentencing is to prevent a possible challenge to the slow death of life imprisonment. All sentences, including "mandatory" sentences, require a formal proceeding allowing the person to be sentenced the right to be heard and to challenge his sentence....

New York — Joseph “Jazz” Hayden, age 71, is an African-American Harlem resident. On his neighborhood “cop watch” beat, armed with his camera, he videotapes police brutality against Harlem residents, including unlawful stop-and-frisks. Hayden has been a longtime community activist and police reform advocate fighting to end the racially biased harassment of people of color....

For a brief moment in time, the name and fate of Trayvon Martin broke through the daily media fog and touched the lives of tens of thousands of people, motivating them, mobilizing them and moving them to take direct action against the gross inaction of the state.
...

It is never admitted by U.S. government spokespeople — who love to shout out about “human rights violations” if the target is China or Iran — that the United States has political prisoners. Plenty of them. Many of them have been imprisoned since the Black, Native and Latino/a liberation struggles of the 1960s and 1970s....

Chrishaun “CeCe” McDonald, a 24-year-old African-American transgender woman from Minneapolis, was sentenced June 4 to 41 months in prison for defending herself against a brutal attack by neofascists who verbally and physically assaulted McDonald and her friends outside a bar in June 2011. McDonald, who courageously defended herself and her friends against anti-trans, anti-woman, racist slurs and violence, was the only one arrested, charged and jailed at the time....

The Tinley Park Five — Jason W. Sutherland, Cody L. Sutherland, Dylan J. Sutherland, Alex R. Stuck and John S. Tucker — are currently imprisoned in Cook County Jail in Chicago. The Five, white anti-racist anarchists, were arrested on May 19 for allegedly physically breaking up an “economic summit” by members of the Illinois European Heritage Association at a restaurant in Tinley Park, a Chicago suburb. The Five are facing major felony charges, including “mob action, criminal damage to property and aggravated battery.”...

The following statement was given by Leslie Feinberg on June 4 prior to the sentencing of CeCe McDonald. Feinberg was arrested later that night at a protest outside the county jail in downtown Minneapolis....

June 5 — As Pride 2012 is being celebrated this June, bigotry and oppression against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer individuals and communities — along with virulent racism — are alive and well across the United States....

We are at a critical time. The trial for Carlos Montes will start June 20, and run for a week. We need you to pack the courtroom. Your presence during his trial will make the difference between his freedom and prison time!...

The second-degree murder trial of Chrishaun “CeCe” McDonald in Minneapolis started April 30 and ended May 2. McDonald’s situation highlights the anti-transgender bigotry and racism rampant in society, as well as the inability of the “justice” system to mete out justice for the oppressed....

All around the U.S. and the world, people are reacting with justifiable outrage and shock at the harsh prison sentence leveled against Marissa Alexander, an African-American mother of three, in Jacksonville, Fla. Alexander was sentenced to 20 years in prison on May 11 for using the “Stand Your Ground” law to protect herself from her abusive ex-spouse. This state law supposedly upholds the right to self-defense for anyone who feels threatened with bodily harm....

Larry Holmes and I have been visiting political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal for 16 years. We started visiting him when he was on death row at State Correctional Institution-Greene in Waynesburg, Pa., which is near the West Virginia border. Our trips there by car from New York City would take at least seven hours, and even longer by bus....

Charles Taylor, former rebel leader and head of state in the West African country of Liberia, was convicted on April 26 by the Special Tribunal on Sierra Leone. The court, held in the Netherlands, was ostensibly set up by the United Nations in conjunction with the Sierra Leone government....

Longtime Los Angeles Chicano activist and organizer Carlos Montes will go on trial May 15 on trumped-up charges that amount to political persecution. Montes’ supporters are mobilizing for his legal and popular defense....

Carlos Montes goes on trial Tuesday, May 15, to 22, 2012 because District Attorney Steve Cooley is moving forward with the FBI-initiated political prosecution against this long time Chicano leader and anti-war, labor, and immigrant rights activist. Along with the FBI, District Attorney Steve Cooley is attempting to imprison Carlos Montes on charges stemming from 42 years ago....

The International Action Center urges you to take immediate action on the appeal below in solidarity with 2,000 Palestinian political prisoners on hunger strike in the prisons of the U.S.-backed Israeli apartheid regime....

Close to 1,000 people from around the U.S. protested in front of the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. on
April 24, the 58th birthday of political prisoner – Mumia Abu-Jamal – to demand his release. ...

The “5 Days for the Cuban 5 in Washington, D.C.” are over, but its broad and unified call to the Obama administration continues to echo: Open the U.S. prison doors and return Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Fernando González, Antonio Guerrero and Rene González to their Cuban homeland....

On December 9, 2011 at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, over 1,100 people gathered to mark the 30th anniversary of Mumia Abu-Jamal's incarceration. Archbishop Desmond Tutu asked our nation to "rise to the challenge of reconciliation, human rights, and justice" and called for Mumia's "immediate release." And when Frances Goldin--Mumia's literary agent--called on the audience to OCCUPY the Justice Department, the call was met with a roar of excitement....

A youngster goes out for a snack, simply something to munch on and a sweet drink to wash it down with. A man nearby sees him and suspicion arises. In a matter of moments, the unarmed teenager is dead and the shooter calmly claims self-defense. The cops come, called by people who witnessed the transaction. They chat with the shooter, perhaps exchange information in the way usually done at a traffic accident, put in a call to the court and leave. Imagine the dialogue:...

Activists from around the world will gather in Washington, D.C., on April 24 to occupy the Justice Department and demand the full release of radical journalist and political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. Their motivation stems from the historic peoples’ victory that removed Abu-Jamal from death row and stopped the state’s repeated efforts to kill him. ...

In Florida in 1998, five Cuban men were arrested and eventually tried on
trumped-up charges of conspiracy to commit espionage, and given sentences
ranging from 15 years to 2 live terms plus 15 years....

I am going to start out with an apology. I am directing it most sincerely to Trayvon's mother who is bearing a burden no mother should ever have — the sudden, violent death of her child. But I most respectfully must disagree when she states that this is not a "white and Black thing.” It is. It is just the latest in a long series of Black and white "things" that have been happening ever since the first Black person was ripped from all he knew and loved and transported unwillingly as a chattel slave from Africa to serve the Europeans (whites) in America....

Congratulations on being part of the historic victory which got Mumia off death row! The amazing 30-year-old international movement to free Mumia did it. Despite great efforts to kill Mumia by the state of Pennsylvania and all its backers -- the courts, the police, the corporate institutions and the politicians who hate him for telling the truth about who runs America -- we stopped them from killing our brother....

On December 9, 2011 at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, over 1,100 people gathered to mark the 30th anniversary of Mumia Abu-Jamal's incarceration. Archbishop Desmond Tutu asked our nation to "rise to the challenge of reconciliation, human rights, and justice" and called for Mumia's "immediate release." And when Frances Goldin--Mumia's literary agent--called on the audience to OCCUPY the Justice Department, the call was met with a roar of excitement. ...

Starting this weekend, solidarity friends from different U.S.
cities, Canada and Europe will gather in the capital of the United States to
denounce the colossal injustice committed against the Cuban 5 and to demand
that President Obama immediately release these men whose only crime was
to defend their people from the scourge of terrorism. Until the Cuban 5
return to their homeland the solidarity movement will continue to demand that
the U.S. government grant regular visas to all the family members of the
Five....

Activities include lobbying, lit distribution, documentary film
screenings, public cultural events. Personalities, actors and artists, union
leaders, writers, researchers, and activists from the U.S. and abroad will
gather in D.C. for these days....

On Thursday, April 12, Dr. Tarek Mehanna will be sentenced in Moakley U.S. Courthouse in Boston. The Tarek Mehanna Support Committee is urging everyone to be in court by 9 a.m. for a strong showing of support and solidarity....

“Pam Africa, Our Revolutionary Daughter of the Dust, Her Life and Work” was celebrated in her home city of Philadelphia on March 30-31 in commemoration of International Women’s Day. The tribute began March 30 with a reception at the Charles L. Blockson Collection at Temple University. Speakers featured fellow activists in MOVE and the International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal, two representatives of the Black Panther Party, as well as family members, including her mother, Bessie Knighton....

Monica Moorehead, a March 31st organizer, states, “Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin, has told the world that her son is everybody's son. It is in this spirit that our coalition encourages all mothers, grandmothers, daughters, sisters, aunts, cousins, nieces, girlfriends and spouses of all ages, nationalities, gender expressions and sexual preferences to attend along with
men.”...

Five Days to Free the Cuban Five begins April 17 and continues through a
demonstration on April 21 at the White House. The theme will be “Obama,
give me Five,” referring to the five Cubans held in the U.S. against
their will....

The People’s Power tour was launched in New York on March 11. The tour
seeks to bring working, poor and oppressed people into a nationwide discussion
to help develop a unifying fightback program of action. Its literature points
to the life-and-death social issues that are intensified by the current global
capitalist economic crisis, such as “unemployment, low wages,
foreclosures, police and ICE terror, racist incarcerations, hunger and
homelessness.”...

Demonstrators chanted, “Tear down Jailhouses! Build up School Houses!” outside Heery International Inc.’s Philadelphia office as part of a national call from Occupy Oakland to Occupy for Prisoners on Feb. 20....

On that day we will say that we are all Mumia, we are all immigrants, we are all prisoners, we are all Bradley Manning, we are all poor, we are all Palestinian, we are all Troy Davis, we are all political prisoners, we are all occupiers!!! ...

Khader Adnan has been on hunger strike for 63 days – one day for each
year of the occupation of Palestine; one day, one year, of steadfastness,
resilience, resistance, and dignity in the face of occupation and oppression.
His courage and commitment must inspire us all to act to amplify his message,
support his action, demand his freedom – and the freedom of
Palestine....

The jailing of courageous 72-year-old human rights attorney Lynne Stewart is an attempt by the U.S. government to silence dissent, curtail vigorous defense lawyers, and instill fear in those who would fight against the U.S. government’s racism, seek to help Arabs and Muslims being prosecuted for free speech, and defend the rights of all oppressed people. Stewart has spent her life defending poor and unpopular defendants....

Political prisoner and revolutionary journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal was
transferred Jan. 27 to general population in SCI-Mahanoy in Frackville, Pa. He
had spent almost 30 years on Pennsylvania death row since he was convicted of
first degree murder July 3, 1982, for the 1981 killing of a white police
officer in Philadelphia. Mumia has proclaimed his innocence since his arrest on
Dec. 9, 1981, which was followed by a sham of a trial. His state and federal
appeals for a new trial to prove his innocence have been systematically denied
by the courts. While on death row, none of his visitors could physically touch
him, an unimaginable form of torture....

Educators for Mumia, Millions for Mumia, the
International Action Center and other grassroots organizations joined Concerned
Family and Friends at the Calvary Church in Philadelphia to discuss the next
steps to win Abu-Jamal’s release from prison. Major initiatives have been
established for local, national and international actions around the Free Mumia
Campaign....

We believe that the message of the postcard will be an attractive one for US
audiences and will be stronger if the same message gets multiplied all over the
world. We will make the PDF available for you to print them locally....

Since December 14, Mumia has been kept in solitary in SCI Mahanoy's dungeon. Its restrictions and conditions belie its modern construction. On January 6 Mumia told us that he wants all of his supporters to broaden this call, to not just focus on his case, but to understand that all torture units must be shut down....

Mumia is being kept in solitary in SCI Mahanoy's dungeon. Its restrictions
and conditions belie its modern construction. Mumia just told us on Friday
[Jan. 6] that he wants all of his supporters to broaden this call, to not just
focus on his case, but to understand that all torture units must be shut
down....

Although Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams dropped the death
sentence on Dec. 7, Mumia Abu-Jamal remains in administrative custody since
being transferred from SCI Greene to SCI Mahanoy on Dec. 14. He has been kept
isolated from the general population, with limited phone access and visits with
family still conducted behind glass walls....

I visited Mumia Dec. 15, in the new prison that houses him, SCI Mahanoy. Even though he has been released from death row, he remains in Administrative Custody while he awaits transfer to general population. Because he is still in Administrative Custody and not yet in general population, visits still take place behind the plexiglas barrier characteristic of the no-contact visits to prisoners on death row....

After nearly three decades on Pennsylvania’s death
row, former Black Panther Party member and world-renowned journalist, Mumia
Abu-Jamal, was moved into transitional area at SCI Greene maximum security
prison on Dec. 11, following an announcement by Philadelphia District Attorney
Seth Williams earlier in the week that he would no longer seek
Abu-Jamal’s execution....

"Now that it is clear that Mumia should never have been on death row in the first place, justice will not be served by relegating him to prison for the rest of his life"yet another form of death sentence. Based on even a minimal following of international human rights standards, Mumia must now be released. I therefore join the call, and ask others to follow, asking District Attorney Seth Williams to rise to the challenge of reconciliation, human rights, and justice: drop this case now, and allow Mumia Abu-Jamal to be immediately released, with full time served."...

Having survived two execution orders and 30 years on death
row in solitary confinement, never being able to touch his dying mother or
sister, his spouse, children or grandchildren (let alone anyone else, other
than the prison guards who handcuff and shackle him), Mumia Abu-Jamal, an
innocent man, now faces the prospect of spending the rest of his life in
prison....

The 7th International Colloquium for the freedom of the
Cuban Five concluded in this eastern Cuban city on Nov. 19. Representatives
from international committees that have mobilized parliaments, unions, Nobel
laureates and millions over the past 13 years of unjust U.S. incarceration of
these five heroic Cuban men planned the next phase in a week of
events....

Once again, the organizers of the National Day of Mourning
dedicated the day to Native political prisoner Leonard Peltier. Peltier was
framed up by the FBI and has been wrongfully imprisoned since 1976....

We’re sure you were relieved on October 11, 2011, as were we, when the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed several lower court rulings since 2001 that Mumia should never have been sentenced to death. That decision is a tribute to the amazing international movement that has fought all these years for justice for
Mumia. But wae write to you now calling on you to help in this critical next stage
of the struggle to gain Mumia’s final release from prison....

Dr. Tarek Mehanna is a 28-year-old Muslim, an Egyptian-American and a
graduate of the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. He has
been held in solitary confinement 23 hours a day since his arrest in 2009....

The prisoner hunger strikers at California’s Pelican Bay State Prison
called off their protest action on Oct. 13. Two days later, prisoners at
Calipatria State Prison decided to “temporarily” end their hunger
strike....

The federal trial of Paul Bergrin, the strong and
courageous attorney who took on the White House and US military for authorizing
abuses in Iraq, and who is wrongfully accused of murder, gets more and
more outrageous....

Here's a prediction: Seth Williams, the district
attorney of Philadelphia, will decide not to seek to reimpose the death penalty
on Mumia Abu-Jamal, the world-famous journalist, former Black Panther and
condemned prisoner who has spent the last almost 30 years of his life on
Pennsylvania's overcrowded death row....

Today the United States Supreme Court rejected a request from the
Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office to overturn the most recent
federal appeals court decision declaring Mumia Abu-Jamal’s death sentence
unconstitutional. The Court’s decision brings to an end nearly thirty
years of litigation over the fairness of the sentencing hearing that resulted
in Mr. Abu-Jamal’s being condemned to death. Mr. Abu-Jamal will be
automatically sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole
unless the District Attorney elects to seek another death sentence from a new
jury....

Sept. 22 — It is the morning after the cold-blooded, premeditated
murder of Troy Anthony Davis by the state of Georgia. The internet and other forms of social media — as well as newspapers,
radio and television — are filled with images of the thousands of people
who gathered in cities across the U.S., around the world and outside the walls
of the Jackson, Ga., prison that houses the death chamber. Millions of people made phone calls and sent letters, tweets and emails,
united in demanding that the execution of Davis be stopped. Appeals were made
to all and anyone to intervene, from the warden and guards at the prison to
President Barack Obama. The Supreme Court held up the execution for almost four
hours, but then sealed Davis’s death without comment....

Davis, who was sentenced to death in 1991 for the murder of an off-duty
police officer, is scheduled to be executed in Georgia on Sept. 21. However, no
direct evidence was brought to convict Davis during his trial, and seven of the
nine witnesses who testified that Davis was the shooter have since recanted
their testimony, saying they were coerced by police into giving false
statements. Davis himself has consistently proclaimed his innocence....

I want to thank all of you for your efforts and dedication to human rights
and human kindness, in the past year. I have experienced such emotion, joy,
sadness and never-ending faith. It is because of all of you that I am alive
today. As I look at my sister Martina I am marveled by the love she has for me
and of course I worry about her and her health, but as she tells me she is the
eldest and she will not back down from this fight to save my life and prove to
the world that I am innocent of this terrible crime....

Sept. 20 — The Georgia State Board of Parole and Pardons denied
clemency to death-row inmate Troy Davis this morning. With this latest decision
and all other legal channels seemingly exhausted, Davis faces imminent
execution on Sept. 21 at 7 p.m. at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification
Prison in Jackson, Ga....

The International Action Center strongly condemns the state-sanctioned murder of inmate, Troy Davis, by the racist state of Georgia Sept. 21 at 11:08 p.m. Davis maintained his innocence while strapped to a gurney in the 1989 killing of an off-duty police officer for which he was sentenced to death row in 1991....

Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people have voiced their opposition to the execution of Troy Davis. There were demonstrations, vigils and other forms of protest in some 300 locations on Sept. 16. 4000 people came out in Atlanta on Friday, the International Day of Solidarity with Troy Davis, overflowing the sanctuary of Ebenezer Baptist Church and filling the outside space....

Troy Davis's EXECUTION HAS BEEN SET FOR WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21. TELL THE GEORGIA GOV., LEGISLATURE, PARDONS AND PAROLE BOARD, PRESIDENT OBAMA, ATTORNEY GENERAL HOLDER, CONGRESS AND THE MEDIA: STOP THE EXECUTION OF TROY DAVIS. On March 28, 2011, the US Supreme Court failed to take up the appeal of Troy Anthony Davis, the Savannah, Ga. man whose scheduled execution has been halted three times in the past because of the growing evidence and public belief in his innocence. Troy Davis is an African American on death row in Georgia. Davis was convicted in the 1989 killing of a police officer despite what Amnesty International calls "overwhelming doubts about his guilt." No physical forensic evidence was presented at Davis' trial, and 7 of the 9 non-police witnesses have recanted their testimony, with at least two saying they were pressured by police to finger Davis as the killer....

More than 12,000 individuals have taken the time to sign this on-line
petition and it has generated more than 3 MILLION <3,000,000> email
messages to officials and media demanding STOP the Execution of Troy Davis....

Millions of U.S. and global activists are engaged in a massive effort to stop this legal lynching. They are signing petitions, organizing rallies and meetings, and contacting elected officials and other influential individuals. A Twitter account at hash tag Too Much Doubt is rapidly informing millions more. Every avenue is being pursued to mobilize public opinion to influence the Georgia Pardons and Parole Board — which meets on Sept. 19 — to grant Davis clemency. The governor-appointed five-member board has the authority to stop the execution. Although the board has previously denied Davis clemency, three new members have not heard all the details of his case....

WE ARE JOINING FORCES!!!!
EMERGENCY RALLY TO STOP THE EXECUTION OF TROY DAVIS!!!!
Friday, SEPTEMBER 16TH 4:30 – 6:30!!!
TIMES SQUARE (42ND Street & 7th Avenue)
Please note the location change the rally will not be at Union Square!!!!!!
Amnesty International USA, Campaign to End the Death Penalty, New Yorkers for
Alternatives to the Death Penalty, The Brecht Forum, International Action Center,
Theater of the Oppressed Lab NY are joining forces!!!!!!
EMERGENCY RALLY TO DEMAND THAT THE GEORGIA BOARD OF PARDONS AND PAROLES COMMUTE
TROY’S SENTENCE – A FINAL CHANCE TO PREVENT TROY DAVIS FROM BEING
EXECUTED!!!! ...

All anti-death penalty activists in the U.S. and worldwide should prepare NOW to organize coordinated actions on FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16.
Plan an activity - a rally, demonstration, petitioning drive, teach-in, community leafletting, etc on that day in your city.
Post your event at iacenter.org/actions/troydavissept16listlocalaction and justicefortroy.org
In ATLANTA, at 6pm on September 16th there will be a March assembling at Woodruff Park, Peachtree and Edgewood and concluding at Ebenezer Baptist Church, 407 Auburn Ave with a service featuring national civil rights, community and religious leaders, Martina Correia and other family members of Troy Davis,and exonerated prisoners....

All anti-death penalty activists in the U.S. and worldwide should prepare NOW to organize coordinated actions before Sept. 21. The IAC will send out a proposed date for these actions in conjunction with Georgia activists....

Leaders of the hunger strike in the Security Housing Unit at
California’s Pelican Bay State Prison accepted an offer July 20 from the
California Department of Correction and Rehabilitation and have ended their
weeks-long action. Members of the Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity coalition
confirmed reports of the hunger strike’s end after speaking with some of
the prisoners involved. ...

Right now there are 200 prisoners at Pelican Bay on a hunger strike. They are experiencing life-threatening health conditions according to an urgent update received by the Hunger Strike Prisoner Solidarity Coalition and from medical personnel at the prison. The California Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation continues to refuse to negotiate. It is urged that phone calls be made to the following authorities immediately, demanding they enter into negotiations before they have (more) deaths on their hands: ...

Urgent bulletin: On July 13 it is reported by the Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity coalition that 200 of the Pelican Bay hunger strikers are experiencing life-threatening health conditions according to an urgent update received by the coalition from medical personnel at the prison. The California Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation continues to refuse to negotiate. It is urged that phone calls be made to the following authorities immediately, demanding they enter into negotiations before they have (more) deaths on their hands:...

Prisoners earning 23 cents an hour in U.S. federal prisons are manufacturing
high-tech electronic components for Patriot Advanced Capability 3 missiles,
launchers for TOW (Tube-launched, Optically tracked, Wire-guided) anti-tank
missiles, and other guided missile systems. A March article by journalist and
financial researcher Justin Rohrlich of World in Review is worth a closer look
at the full implications of this ominous development. ...

We, the undersigned, are alive today because some individual or small group of
individuals decided that our insistent and persistent proclamations of
innocence warranted one more look before we were sent to our death by
execution. We are among the 138 individuals who have been legally exonerated
and released from death rows in the United States since 1973. We are alive
because a few thoughtful persons – attorneys, journalists, judges,
jurists, etc. – had lingering doubts about our cases that caused them to
say "stop" at a critical moment and halt the march to the execution
chamber. When our innocence was ultimately revealed, when our lives were saved,
and when our freedom was won, we thanked God and those individuals of
conscience who took actions that allowed the truth to eventually come to
light....

Troy Davis is an African American on death row in Georgia. Davis was
convicted in the 1989 killing of a police officer despite what Amnesty
International calls "overwhelming doubts about his guilt." On March 28, 2011, the Supreme Court refused to take up his appeal, and he could be executed at any time....

On April 26 the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia unanimously issued a ruling upholding its earlier decision calling for a new sentencing hearing for Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was convicted of killing Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner in 1982. On Pennsylvania’s death row for almost 29 years, Abu-Jamal — a world-renowned political prisoner and former Black Panther Party member — has consistently maintained his innocence....

The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has unanimously
declared that Mumia Abu-Jamal's death sentence is unconstitutional. In
today's decision, the Court of Appeals reaffirmed its 2008 finding that Mr.
Abu-Jamal's sentencing jury was misled about the process for considering
evidence supporting a life sentence. The Court found that, in violation of the
United States Supreme Court's 1988 decision in Mills v. Maryland, the jury
was improperly led to believe that that it could only consider unanimously
agreed upon evidence favoring a life verdict. This mistake rendered Mr.
Abu-Jamal's death sentence fundamentally unfair. ...

Carter, invited by Cuban President Raul Castro, on behalf of The Carter Center, is the first US President in 50 years to set foot on Cuban soil. He ended his three-day trip on March 30th by also calling to remove Cuba from the U.S. State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism, to lift the US blockade now having been imposed on Cuba for half a century, and to remove all restrictions imposed on its citizens regarding travel to Cuba....

The recent visit to Cuba by former US President Jimmy
Carter, renews our hope. His positive statements calling for the
freedom of the Cuban 5 and the right of family visits during an interview
with Cuban television constitutes an encouraging sign for our struggle. In addition, his statements have appeared in media around the world, for many
of these news outlets this marks the first time they have mentioned the Cuban
5. But we can not sit still while the 5 continue to be imprisoned
and think it is over....

In the most recent racist and reactionary link in the vicious chain of the politically motivated frame up of Boston African American City Councilor and community leader Chuck Turner, Federal Judge Woodlock denied Chuck's motion for a stay of execution of sentence pending the appeal of his conviction, effectively appointing himself judge jury and executioner, thus proving that Capitalist judges are always more class conscious than constitutionally minded....

In the USA we hope we are experiencing that groundswell of a time when events and history come together; that the protest against what is happening to civil service workers will result in such a wave of people power that change will start breaking out for all of us....

The following is a statement from Jason Campbell, an inmate in Ohio State Penitentiary, where Lucasville uprising prisoners Siddique Abdullah Hasan, Bomani Shakur and Jason Robb recently won significant improvements in the terms of their confinement through a 12-day hunger strike and an international campaign of support. ...

Honor the right of Native American Prisoner Jason Campbell (Vo'kome Nahkohe) to practice his religion! All of his religious freedom hunger strike demands are just and legitimate. They must be granted immediately! His religious necklace, which was confiscated from him illegally, must be immediately returned. Remove him from isolation and restore all privileges. No reprisals for his just hunger strike action!...

It is with great excitement that we announce the formation of Mumia's new legal team. Both Christina Swarns and Judith Ritter have argued before the Third Circuit Court of Appeals for Mumia. They are now formal co-counsel representing him in the ongoing appeal of his murder conviction and death sentence. The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF), as the premier legal organization in this country fighting for racial justice, has committed itself to "sweep the grave injustices embodied in this case into the dustbin of history." ...

On Jan. 28, Mumia Abu-Jamal retained the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. to represent him in the ongoing appeal of his capital murder conviction and death sentence. LDF will serve as co-counsel in the case with Judy Ritter, Esq., of Widener Law School in Wilmington, Del., who has represented Mr. Abu-Jamal since 2003....

On January 28, 2011, Mumia Abu-Jamal retained the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) to represent him in the ongoing appeal of his capital murder conviction and death sentence. LDF will serve as co-counsel in the case with Judy Ritter, Esq., of Widener Law School in Wilmington, Delaware, who has represented Mr. Abu-Jamal since 2003....

Brother Bomani is one of three prisoners who went on hunger strike at
Ohio State Penitentiary to protest the conditions of their confinement and were
supported by a nationwide and international movement. OSP Warden David
Bobby brought the hunger strike to an end by offering the prisoners more than
they had asked for on 1/14/11....

Comrades, as an Irish republican who spent 15 years in gaol I can fully understand the stance you are taking. I have spoken to many of my comrades who were in prison with me and they too send solidarity greetings....

Cars piled into the parking lot of the church next to the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown. The parked cars left just enough room for a contingent of friends and family members of the hunger strikers to defy the frostbite weather and gather with colorful banners and signs. The contingent drove to the prison to deliver nearly 1,200 names on a petition collected through the Internet, including more than 600 collected through www.iacenter.org....

“So much energy coming is from all over. I’m just trying to hang
on and ride the wave,” wrote political prisoner Bomani Shakur Jan. 6, the
third day of his hunger strike at Ohio State Penitentiary. Convicted as Keith
LaMar, Bomani and two other death-sentenced prisoners started refusing food on
Jan. 3 to demand that they be treated like other prisoners facing
execution....

On Jan. 3, four prisoners held in Ohio State Penitentiary, a supermax prison started a hunger strike to protest the highly restrictive conditions they have been subjected to since they were moved to the prison in 1998. These prisoners are Bomani Shakur aka Keith LaMar, Siddique Abdullah Hasan, Jason Robb and Namir Abdul Mateen aka James Were, all received death sentences as the result of wrongful convictions on charges related to the 1993 prison uprising in Lucasville, Ohio. Hasan and Robb helped negotiate the settlement of the Lucasville uprising, preventing a massacre such as the one in Attica in 1971 which resulted in more than forty deaths....

The anti-racist movement celebrated an important victory when it was announced on Dec. 30 that the prison sentences of Jamie Scott and Gladys Scott would be suspended by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour....

Four death-sentenced prisoners, wrongfully convicted of crimes following the 1993 prison rebellion in the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, Ohio, started a “rolling” hunger strike Jan. 3. The strike is to protest the highly restrictive solitary confinement where they have been placed in the supermax Ohio State Penitentiary, located in Youngstown, since 1998. These prisoners are starting to run out of appeals. They say they would rather die, if they must, on their own terms, rather than on a gurney by lethal injection. They intend the hunger strike to help strike a blow against confinement conditions so inhumane that they amount to torture....

Before I speak my piece, let me make one thing perfectly clear: I don’t want to die. I want to live and breathe and strive to do something righteous with my life. Truly. For the past 16 years, however, I’ve been in solitary confinement, confined to a cell 23 hours a day for something I didn’t do and, speaking honestly, I have gone as far as I’m willing to go. Am I giving up? No....

On Jan. 3, four prisoners held in Ohio State Penitentiary, a supermax prison started a hunger strike to protest the highly restrictive conditions they have been subjected to since they were moved to the prison in 1998. These prisoners are Bomani Shakur aka Keith LaMar, Siddique Abdullah Hasan, Jason Robb and Namir Abdul Mateen aka James Were, all received death sentences as the result of wrongful convictions on charges related to the 1993 prison uprising in Lucasville, Ohio. Hasan and Robb helped negotiate the settlement of the Lucasville uprising, preventing a massacre such as the one in Attica in 1971 which resulted in more than forty deaths....

The Concerned Coalition to Respect Prisoners’ Rights learned that on
or about December 16, Terrance Bryant Dean was severely beaten by guards at
Macon State Prison where he was incarcerated. The Coalition asserts this brutal
beating was not isolated and was a retaliatory act carried out by the
Department of Corrections (DOC) against non-violent striking inmates. The
Coalition was formed to support the interests and agenda of thousands of
Georgia prisoners who staged a peaceful protest and work strike initiated in
early December....

The Ohio State Penitentiary (OSP) in Youngstown, Ohio, holds 539 people
behind its brick walls, multiple barbed wire fences and iron bars. It is within
this dungeon that four of the men known as the Lucasville Five are
incarcerated: Bomani Shakur, Adbullah Hasan, Jason Robb and Namir Abdul Mateen.
These men are held in a special section of OSP’s death row, awaiting
lethal injection for the crime of participating in a rebellion....

Following is a commentary from political prisoner Bomani Shakur, one of
the Lucasville Five, now on death row in Ohio on false charges from a 1993
prison uprising. Shakur was convicted as Keith LaMar....

Siddique Abdullah Hasan, Bomani Shakur (Keith LaMar), Jason Robb and Namir
Mateen (James Were) will start a hunger strike on Monday Jan. 3 to protest
their 23-hour a day lock down for nearly 18 years. These four death-sentenced
prisoners have been single-celled (in solitary) in conditions of confinement
significantly more severe than the coniditions experienced by the approximately
125 other death-sentenced prisoners at the supermax prison, Ohio State
Penitentiary in Youngstown....

On Dec. 17 Bradley Manning turned 23 in a cell at the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Va. For him, it was just another day of isolation and abuse at the hands of the U.S. military. From the beginning of his detention in late April, Manning, a U.S. soldier suspected of releasing the thousands of documents published by WikiLeaks, has been held in intensive solitary confinement....

Five Somali nationals were convicted of piracy in a U.S. federal court in
Norfolk, Va., on Nov. 24, with their sentencing set for March 2011. Based on
slave-era laws and criminal statutes that have not been enforced since the
1820s, the Somalis could be sentenced to life in prison....

For over week, since December 9, thousands of Georgia prisoners have refused
to work, stopped all activities and locked down in their cells in a peaceful
protest for their human rights. It is urgent to support this heroic act of
resistance to inhuman prison conditions and racism....

According to reports from family members and prisoner rights advocates,
thousands of incarcerated men throughout Georgia engaged in a coordinated
strike starting Dec. 9. They refused to go to work or participate in other
assignments or activities, but stayed in their cells, calling it a
“lockdown for liberty.” Using unauthorized cell phones, the prisoners have been able to organize among themselves and to communicate with news media and supporters. What is so extraordinary about this action besides its statewide character
is its unity among the prisoners — Black, Latino, white, Muslims,
Christians, Rastafarians — to achieve their central demand to be treated
as human beings, not slaves or animals.
...

According to reports from family members and prisoner rights advocates,
thousands of incarcerated men engaged in a coordinated strike starting Dec. 9.
They refused to go to work or participate in other assignments or activities,
but stayed in their cells, calling it a “lockdown for liberty.”...

In 2009, as a result of an investigation of the State of North
Carolina’s Crime Laboratory, two former FBI agents concluded that false
forensic evidence had been used, and exonerating evidence hidden from the
defense, in 280 criminal cases over 16 years. In three of those, cases men were
executed before the truth was uncovered....

The only legal options that were considered by the Third Circuit Court of
Appeals, a federal court immediately below the US Supreme Court, at the
November 9 hearing were whether Mumia Abu-Jamal is to be executed or get life
in prison without parole. The question of Mumia's guilt or innocence and
the opportunity of a new trial was not part of this hearing. The Third Circuit
decided that issue in March 2008 in a decision made by the same three judges
who conducted this hearing....

e urge all individuals concerned with human rights to
sign this international petition to U.S. and Pakistani government officials, urging the immediate repatriation to Pakistan of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui....

More than 500 people, mostly African Americans and
youth, mobilized for a noontime outdoor rally Nov. 9 in support of political
prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. The rally lasted through a hearing of the 3rd U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals that argued on whether the death sentence would be
reinstated against Mumia, who has maintained his innocence since being
railroaded to death row in 1982. The court’s ruling will be announced at
a later date. Supporters for Mumia included a delegation from the Transport
Workers Union Local 100; Charles Barron, the New York gubernatorial candidate
for the Freedom Party; Free Mumia Coalition (NYC), International Concerned
Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal and the International Action Center.
Activists traveled from as far away as California, Texas, Arizona, Germany and
France to stand with Mumia....

Mumia Abu-Jamal is innocent. He’s spent over 28 years on death row after
being unjustly convicted. Mumia was framed because he exposed police brutality
as a radio journalist and for helping to found the Philadelphia chapter of the
Black Panther Party in 1969.The real criminals are the FBI and cops, who bombed
the MOVE house on May 13, 1985, burning to death six adults and five children.
The MOVE 9 are innocent political prisoners who must be released. A “Tea
Party” majority on the U.S. Supreme Court has virtually ordered the
Federal Appeals Court to reinstate Mumia’s death sentence. Don’t
let the bigots lynch Mumia Abu-Jamal. Show the Federal Appeals Court that we
demand justice. Mumia must not die! RALLY in Philadelphia Nov 9. For more
information: Free Mumia Coalition (NYC) 212.330.8029 www.freemumia.com...

The International Action Center announces two important NYC showings of a
new and exciting film, “Justice on Trial”, on the case of Mumia
Abu-Jamal at Riverside Church and Baruch College, Oct. 31 and Nov. 2. All out
for Mumia, Nov. 9, Philadelphia!!...

A prisoner was kneeling on the ground, blindfolded and handcuffed, when an
Iraqi soldier kicked him in the neck. A U.S. marine sergeant was watching and
reported the incident, which was duly recorded and deemed “valid.”
The outcome: “No investigation required.”...

A critical hearing is scheduled Nov. 9 in the nearly three-decade-old case
of journalist and activist Mumia Abu-Jamal, who sits on death row in
Pennsylvania. Mumia was severely wounded and arrested on Dec. 9, 1981, in
Philadelphia and was later charged, tried and convicted of the murder of police
officer Daniel Faulkner....

The World Day Against the Death Penalty was commemorated on Oct. 10 with a
major emphasis on the United States, where more executions take place than any
other industrialized country. Since the death penalty was reinstituted by the
U.S. Supreme Court in 1976, 1,229 executions have taken place, with 41 in 2010
alone and counting. (Death Penalty Information Center, Oct. 6)...

n October 6, 1976 a civilian Cuban airliner took off from the coast of Barbados towards Cuba. Among the 73 passengers on board was the Cuban Junior Fencing team who were proudly returning to their island with gold medals. Along with them were 11 humble students from Guyana who were to begin studying in Cuba, five passengers of the Democratic Republic of Korea, among them a young girl. There were 57 Cuban passengers and flight crew on that plane. But flight 455 never made it to its destination. Its 73 passengers died a horrible death when a bomb, ordered to be placed in the plane by the international terrorists Luis Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch, blew up in mid air....

Thursday, July
15, Federal Judge John Koeltl attempted to bury me
alive.
Acting for the Government and Judges of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals,
he sentenced me at their demand, to more than five times the term he
originally thought "right and just." With his new sentence,
of ten years, I am buried in the Prison Industrial Complex until I am
nearly 80 years old, if I make it....

The nearly 29-year struggle to free political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal faces
a critical juncture with the announcement that the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the Third Circuit will review Abu-Jamal’s death sentence on Nov. 9. It is
imperative that all who stand for justice and against racism and state
repression pack the courtroom in Philadelphia....

The 86-year sentence of Dr Aafia Siddiqui is an outrage and a shameful act. This is why I shouted out in court, "Shame! Shame! Shame on this court!" as the judge declared his sentence.

It is U.S. act of insult, intended to send a message of domination. The highly publicized trial of Dr Siddiqui is part of the demonization and criminalization of all Muslim people that U.S. institutions, including courts, media, police and military increasingly use to justify their criminal wars. It is part of the war on Afghanistan, Iraq, expanding into Pakistan and threatening Iran. ...

The plight of the Cuban Five is never far from the minds of progressive
people around the world. This Sept. 12, exactly 12 years since their arrest in
the United States for defending Cuba from terrorist attacks, organizations and
individuals intensified demands for their release through petitions,
demonstrations and ad campaigns....

We urge all individuals concerned with human rights to
sign this international petition to U.S. and Pakistani government officials, urging the immediate repatriation to Pakistan of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui....

Expressing the sounds of her beloved Puerto Rico, hundreds of people singing plenas and chanting about her valiant character accompanied independence fighter Lolita Lebrón to her final resting place in the Old San Juan Cemetery. She was buried close to her dear Maestro, Don Pedro Albizu Campos. As she had requested, the burial took place just over 24 hours after her death....

On Sunday August 8, renowned actor Danny Glover visited Gerardo Hernandez at USP Victorville, California. The meeting caused a big stir in the prison that just a few days before had held Gerardo in "the hole" under
inhumane conditions....

There will be much to do in support of Lynne Stewart in
these next months. For the moment, the priority is to see that Lynne is sent to
the Federal Corrections Institition for Women in Danbury rather than somewhere
in Texas or even further from her family and friends. WRITE TO THE BUREAU OF
PRISONS IMMEDIATELY! TURN YOUR PAIN AT LYNNE'S HORRIFIC SENTENCE INTO
FIGHTING BACK. THIS IS STEP 1....

Marilyn Buck, a political prisoner in the U.S., was released July 15 from
the federal prison medical center in Carswell, Texas, according to her support
group, Friends of Marilyn Buck. She is paroled to New York. As of the writing
of this article, no further details about her release have been made
available....

Every struggle against the criminal injustice system in the U.S. today is a struggle to maintain morale and a combative spirit in the face of overwhelming repression, systematic racism, isolation and intimidation.

In every trial of a political prisoner the victim becomes the criminal through orchestrated media demonization and prosecutorial lies and distortions. The most important role of a defense committee is to again and again mobilize people to respond with determination and solidarity through long trials and often frustrating years of legal appeals....

Activists supporting African-American political prisoner and revolutionary
journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal held a lively street meeting on the corner of Sixth
and Market near the Liberty Bell monument in Philadelphia on July 4....

July 3rd is the day that political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal was sentenced to death for a killing he did not commit. This year’s July 4 theme is “ancestral uprising!” featuring dramatic presentations through performances of heroic anti-slavery fighters. The protest will also include a special presentation on the year-long struggle to demand a civil rights investigation for Mumia on the part of the U.S. Justice Department...

A 22 year old U.S. soldier, B. Manning, has been arrested on suspicion of leaking classified combat video footage and secret documents to a whistle-blower website. SPC Manning, from Potomac, Maryland, is assigned to the 2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division and was stationed at Forward Operating Base Hammer, located east of Baghdad. SPC Manning was arrested in Iraq and is currently being held in Kuwait pending further investigations. The WikiLeaks website posted a video which shows U.S. occupation forces shooting civilians on a Baghdad street during 2007....

When a supposed attempt to set off a car bomb in New York City fizzled in early May, with no one injured, a massive government investigation was launched to bring the alleged “terrorists” to justice....

Ten years ago, the International Action Center initiated a major demonstration
focused on the prison industrial complex. It was held on in front of the U.S.
Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. The march was called to take place on
April 15, the day before militant actions to oppose the criminal policies of
the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, which were meeting in that
city; thousands of youth took part in those protests....

This is a critical moment in the long battle to save the life of world-renown
African-American political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal, who has been on
Pennsylvania’s death row for almost 28 years. Millions of people
worldwide know that he has never had a fair trial or appeals process before a
jury of his peers—that he has been denied his basic legal and
constitutional rights....

April 3 was “Call to Action Day” at Columbia University —
a day to inform, mobilize and organize to save the life of political prisoner
Mumia Abu-Jamal. The theme was “Live from Death Row: Mumia at the
Crossroads in the Age of Obama.” It was organized by Educators for Mumia
Abu-Jamal....

Writers for Mumia, an afternoon of readings and testimonials by poets, playwrights, journalists, book authors, wordsmiths and activists, will be held April 24 from 2:30 to 6 p.m. at St. Mary’s Church, 512 W. 126th St. in Harlem. The New York Chapter of the National Writers Union and the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition of New York City are co-sponsoring the event, which precedes a rally in front of the Justice Department’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., on April 26....

Activists from the U.S. and worldwide organized a day-long teach-in in Philadelphia and online to demand: No death penalty; No life sentence and for a Civil Rights Investigation in support of the award-winning journalist and political prisoner, Mumia Abu-Jamal. The following videos will help to summarize the legal and political issues connected to Mumia's case along with action proposals to build a broad fightback movement to win his freedom....

In light of the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that opened the door for
reinstatement of the death penalty for political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal,
activists from the Philadelphia region, across the U.S. and around the globe
will take part in an important teach-in in Philadelphia on Feb. 13, to take up
the next stage in the struggle to free Mumia....

Activists from Philadelphia, across the U.S. and around the globe will take
part in an important video streaming, video conferencing and live teach-in to
take up the next stage in the struggle to free Mumia Abu-Jamal....

The plight of Mumia Abu-Jamal is included in this Black History Month forum
because what’s happening to him is part of the history of Black people
in the U.S. and throughout the African Diaspora. This includes a history of
oppression, repression, enslavement, apartheid, domestic terrorism, exploitation,
racial discrimination, marginalization, resistance, and a continuing struggle
for liberation, civil and human rights, social justice and equal protection
under the law....

In an effort to intimidate observers to Dr. Aafia Siddiqui’s trial Federal Marshals have instituted a new and unprecedented measure of copying photo identification and having names and addresses logged by court security officers before admission into the courtroom. This is especially threatening to the Pakistani immigrant community who is deeply concerned about the fate of their sister Aafia. An additional level of metal detectors is also posted outside the courtroom....

Dr. Aafia Siddiqui’s trial for alleged attempted murder of FBI agents
and U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan entered its second week Jan. 25 in New York
City. Court officials forced all who wanted to attend the trial to twice go
through metal detectors and submit to thorough searches, give photo IDs and
sign their name. This intimidating process targeting noncitizens from the
Pakistani community is being challenged....

On Jan. 19 the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling that has opened the way
for the reinstatement of the death sentence for Mumia Abu-Jamal. The federal
court’s ruling, which moved away from earlier rulings regarding
sentencing phase regulations, was the latest in a long history of state, local
and federal courts changing or even reversing their own legal precedents in the
case of this world-renowned journalist and political prisoner....

Dr Aafia Siddiqui’s trail continues Monday, January 25 and EVERY
DAY at 9:00am. In an effort to intimidate Dr Siddiqui’s supporters court
officials have harassed observers by taking I.D. numbers before they entered
the courtroom....

The Supreme Court has tossed out a lower court
ruling that nullified the death sentence for former Black Panther Mumia
Abu-Jamal. He has been an outspoken activist from behind bars, claiming there
were procedural errors during his capital sentencing, and that too few blacks
were on the jury....

My August parole denial was appealed in short order. We are expecting a response to that appeal sometime very soon. It has occurred to me that the viciousness of this system knows no bounds, and so I believe strongly in the coming days we will hear of another loss, another denial. This one will be timed and intended specifically as a twisted Christmas present for me, such is the nature of those in charge. With no sense of balance, fairness, or decency, I await my own personal stocking stuffer....

All
the same, Mumia is still on death row because the prosecution filed an appeal
wit the Supreme Court in order to push through his execution. Mumia is now in
the greatest danger to be executed since his arrest on December 9, 1981....

A national tour organized to highlight the use of administrative detention, an inhumane punishment aimed at Palestinian political prisoners, visited a number of U.S. cities from Nov. 3 to Nov. 20. Administrative detention is a cruel form of arrest that offers the accused man, woman or even child no charges to dispute, no trial and no limit to their maximum sentence....

Nov. 19, longtime civil rights attorney Lynne Stewart was ordered by Judge John G. Koeltl to turn herself in to begin serving a prison sentence for her 2006 conviction for conspiracy and providing material support to terrorists....Many see Stewart’s incarceration as a boon, particularly for those who are behind bars without adequate legal representation. And though she was disbarred upon her indictment, Stewart will undoubtedly play the role of jailhouse lawyer, acting as a mentor and advocate to those on the inside for whom justice is hard won if at all....

The International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal (ICFFMAJ) coalition convened an urgent meeting here on Oct. 17. Mumia supporters from Philadelphia, New York and Washington, D.C., were in attendance. It was a fightback strategy meeting of critical importance. Mumia, who has been on death row for over 27 years, is now, more than ever, faced with having his life snuffed out by the political powers that be....

On Oct. 13, a 21-year-plus-10-month prison term was imposed on Antonio Guerrero Rodríguez by the same Florida U.S. District Court that initially condemned him to a life sentence plus 10 years. The steadfast support of the Cuban people and government, amplified with worldwide solidarity, forced the U.S. government to back off some of the unjust and wildly excessive life sentences imposed on Guerrero, one of the revolutionary heroes known as the Cuban Five....

ow that the documents recording the systematic torture of thousands of prisoners in secret U.S. prisons has been released to the world media in U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s report, the secret documents on the imprisonment and torture of Dr Aafia Siddiqui must also be released to the courts and to the world....

New York—On Aug. 21 the Solidarity Center here was filled with five hours of inspiring sounds: music and spoken word from talented artists (photo right) brought together to support the case of political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal, known worldwide as the “voice of the voiceless.”...

A wave of outrage swept the progressive community worldwide at the news that Native political prisoner Leonard Peltier was denied parole on Aug. 21. The U.S. government said Peltier will not be eligible for another parole hearing until 2024, when he will be 79 years old....

Imprisoned Palestinian national leader Ahmad Sa'adat, the General
Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was transferred
on August 11, 2009 to Ramon prison in the Naqab desert from Asqelan prison,
where he had been held for a number of months. He remains in isolation; prior
to his transfer from Asqelan, he had been held since August 1 in a tiny
isolation cell of 140 cm x 240 cm after being penalized for communicating with
another prisoner in the isolation unit....

The thousands of Palestinian prisoners are facing an
ongoing campaign in denial of their rights - from denial of family visits, to
the imposition of solitary confinement and isolation. Every day, they stand on
the front lines, confronting the injustice and repression of the occupation, as
prisoners for the freedom of Palestinian land and the Palestinian people....

A press conference and vigil were held at the downtown federal building June
26 to support Leonard Peltier and his upcoming parole effort on July 28.
Supporters are being asked to write letters on behalf of Peltier, a leader of
the American Indian Movement and one of the longest-held political prisoners in
the U.S....

Join dozens of organizations, academics and activists to
endorse this letter to Ban Ki-Moon, including the National Lawyers Guild, the
Palestinian Youth Network, UK MP George Galloway and many more! See full list of
initial endorsers below......

In 2004, the NAACP voted unanimously (with one "nay" vote) to "reiterate its support of the international movement for a new and fair trial for Mumia Abu-Jamal." Yet the organization has done nothing since that time to ensure justice for Mumia....

We'll be closing down the petition around June 26 so that data can be compiled for delivery to the U.S. Parole Commission. So don't wait. Do it now. Not sure if you've signed? Sign again. Any duplicates will be deleted before the signatures are submitted to the Parole Commission....

Kari Ann Cowan, Peltier's niece, reported on July 19 from the prison at
Lewisburg that Leonard may have suffered a heart attack. She stated, "He
had a hard time breathing. He was in his cell and had an ache in his chest. He
was kinda scared he was having a heart attack. He raised his hands, breathed
slowly and finally felt better."...

The US Supreme Court announced today that it will not review the case of the
Five Cuban Patriots. This decision denies our 5 brothers, unjustly imprisoned
from more than a decade for monitoring terrorist organizations based in Miami,
from ever having the possibility of an impartial and just trial outside
Miami....

More than 100 vigils, rallies, marches and other actions were held across
the U.S. and in other countries worldwide on May 19 in support of Troy Anthony
Davis, the Georgia man facing execution for a crime he has always denied
committing....

On May 19, from Alaska to West Virginia and from Argentina to Uganda, high
school and college students, faith-based groups and progressive community
organizations are organizing vigils, rallies and petition drives as well as the
vital means of communication to bring worldwide pressure on Georgia Gov. Sonny
Perdue and the Pardons and Parole Board to stop the execution of Troy Anthony
Davis....

The struggle to free death-row political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal is heating up in New York City. On May 8, an emergency, militant street meeting took place in front of Harlem’s Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building to demand that elected officials call upon U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and the Justice Department to conduct a civil rights investigation into constitutional rights violations against Mumia. Congressperson Charles Rangel, who represents the Harlem community, has come out in support of the call for the investigation....

In the aftermath of the April 12 sniper killings of three Somali teenagers by the U.S. Navy, several U.S. agencies met on April 17 to conduct a review of military and foreign policy toward this Horn of Africa nation. The State Department, Pentagon and Justice Department have outlined a series of options
to ostensibly fight "piracy" in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean....

Following are excerpts from an e-mail campaign launched on April 15 by the New York Free Mumia Coalition, International Concerned Family and Friends
of Mumia Abu-Jamal, Millions for Mumia and the International Action Center. To date hundreds of thousands of emails have been sent to U.S. Attorney General
Eric Holder, President Barack Obama, congressional leaders, and the media to demand that the Justice Department initiate a civil rights investigation addressing a 27-year history of prosecutorial and judicial violations of Mumia's constitutional rights....

Political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal will be 55 on April 24. His family, friends and supporters are observing the day with a worldwide "Honk for
Mumia" and other displays of resistance to demand freedom for this world-famous African-American journalist held on Pennsylvania's death row....

On April 6, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Mumia
Abu-Jamal's appeal for a new guilt-phase trial. The
Supreme Court has not yet decided whether to consider the Philadelphia DA's separate appeal, which is attempting to execute Abu-Jamal WITHOUT a new sentencing hearing. In
response to yesterday's rejection, Abu-Jamal's lead
attorney, Robert R. Bryan, will be filing a "petition for re-hearing" in the U.S. Supreme Court....

Ricardo Alarcón, president of Cuba's Parliament, speaking in
Havana, denounced the U.S. and international corporate media for their silence
regarding the massive international support for the petition to the U.S.
Supreme Court to hear the case of the Cuban Five....

In collaboration with the International Action Center, City Councilor Chuck
Turner has launched a new phase of his "Campaign for Truth, Light and
Justice," focusing national and international attention not just on
frame-up charges against Turner but also on eight years of corrupt practices by
the Bush administration's Department of "Justice."...

The central issue in this case is racism in jury selection. The prosecution systematically removed people from sitting on the trial jury purely because of the color of their skin, that is, being black. The bigotry that killed Martin Luther King, Jr., so many years ago, has been rampant in the case of my client and is a central part of the state's quest to murder him in the name of the law....

I want to thank each and everyone of you for your efforts in my urgent time of need, you cannot imagine how much my spirit has been lifted from the cards and letters, the phone calls and how everyone kept up the pressure. My gratitude is really more than I can express. My return to Lewisburg was met like a hero’s welcome, and many people came to assure me of my safety there. It is so ironic that the prisoners in a federal maximum-security prison can guarantee my safety, but the Bureau of Prisons will not. I did not say, “cannot”, but “will not” do so. You have to remember the BOP is a little brother to the FBI and they came from an illegitimate mother called the JUST-US (Justice) Department.
...

From five prisons scattered throughout the bowels of the United States, we condemn this
crime with all our strength; we demand that the barbarity stop now and we send all of our love and support from the deepest part of our souls to the beloved Palestinian people. We will be with you today and always. If there is one thing that profoundly hurts us about our imprisonment it is that we cannot do much more for you, for your cause, for our peoples, but we trust that soon we will be able to accompany you physically....

I am so OUTRAGED! My brother Leonard was severely beaten upon his arrival at the Canaan Federal Penitentiary. When he went into population after his transfer, some inmates assaulted him. The severity of his injuries is that he suffered numerous blows to his head and body, receiving a large bump on his head, possibly a concussion, and numerous bruises. Also, one of his fingers is swollen and discolored and he has pain in his chest and ribcage. There was blood everywhere from his injuries....

The International Action Center and Fight Imperialism-Stand Together (FIST) strongly condemn the fatal shooting of 22 year-old African-American father, Oscar Grant, by BART cop Johannes Mehserle, Jan. 1 at the Fruitvale station in Oakland, Calif. Grant was forced off the train at 2 a.m. with others and forced to lie face down on the ground. While he was laying face down, Mehserle pulled his gun from its holster and shot Grant in the back....

Life-long civil rights advocate Ramsey Clark, winner of the 2008 United Nations Human Rights Award and founder of the International Action Center, held a press conference in front of the JFK Federal Building here on Dec. 17 to defend Chuck Turner, an African-American community leader and five-term Boston city councilor, against racist frame-up charges from U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan....

Mumia Abu-Jamal remains on Pennsylvania’s death row. Last week marked the 27th anniversary of his unjust imprisonment. Racism, fraud and politics have been threads that have run through the case since its inception, and continue today....

Dec. 6 will be a day of international solidarity to free Mumia Abu-Jamal. It
is sorely needed. Lynne Abraham, the Philadelphia district attorney known as
“the deadliest D.A. in the U.S.,” is calling on the U.S. Supreme
Court to reinstate Abu-Jamal's death sentence despite mounds of evidence
showing his innocence....

Every year since 1970, United American Indians of New England have organized
the National Day of Mourning observance in Plymouth at noon on Thanksgiving Day. Every year, hundreds of Native people and our supporters from all four
directions join us. Every year, including this year, Native people from
throughout the Americas will speak the truth about our history and about current issues and struggles we are involved in....

On Monday, October 27, Troy Davis, an African American on death row in Georgia, is scheduled to be legally lynched by the state of Georgia. Davis was
convicted in the 1989 killing of a police officer despite what Amnesty International calls "overwhelming doubts about his guilt."...

U.S. troops in Afghanistan shot Dr. Aafia Siddiqui and took her into custody in July. She lies in solitary confinement in the Manhattan
Detention Center, with an open scar from her sternum to her lower abdomen. She has not seen her lawyer, Elizabeth Fink, because if she leaves her cell she faces an excruciating strip search....

The Jersey 4 are young African-American lesbians from Newark, N.J., who were
convicted of "gang assault" charges in June 2007 after defending themselves against a man who attacked them and three of their friends in August 2006....

The International Action Center condemns the U.S. silencing of Mrs. Masood
"disappeared" of
Pakistan. The United States Department of Homeland Security has cowardly
revoked the travel visa for Amna Masood Janjua. She was prevented from
traveling to the US to meet with human rights organizations and members of
Congress by US agents who boarded the plane she was on, forcing her off. ...

I have watched with keen interest and renewed hope as your campaign has mobilized millions of Americans behind your message of changing a political system that serves a small economic elite at the expense of the peoples of the
United States and the world. Your election as president of the United States, where slaves and Indians were long considered less than human under the law, will undoubtedly constitute a historic moment in race relations in the United
States....

There has been extensive news attention to the ongoing federal proceedings concerning my client, Mumia Abu-Jamal, on the hotly contested issue of racism in jury selection and the ordering of a new jury trial on the question of life or death. (Abu-Jamal v. Horn, 520 F.3d 272 (3rd Cir. 2008).) The massive issue of racism will be presented to the U.S. Supreme Court later this year. However, few are aware that we have been actively litigating separate issues concerning fraud and the subornation of perjury by the Philadelphia Police Department and the District Attorney of Philadelphia. We are now before the Supreme Court regarding this governmental misconduct which resulted in Mumia being convicted and sentenced to death.
...

The Cuban Five are five Cuban men who are in U.S. prisons,
serving four life sentences and 75 years collectively, after being arrested in
September 1998 and wrongly convicted in U.S. federal court in Miami in
2001....

(RHC)—Senator Yeidckol Polevnsky Gurwitz of the Mexican Senate has added her name to the list of international politicians, activists and cultural and artistic personalities who are urging the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice to grant visas without further delay to Adriana Perez and Olga Salanueva, whose husbands, Gerardo Hernandez and René Gonzalez are serving prison sentences in US gaols for infiltrating
terrorist groups in Miami. ...

More than two weeks after being granted bond by a federal judge, Sami Al-Arian is still being held in prison. In fact, Dr. Al-Arian is now being subjected to the worst treatment by prison officials
since his stay in Coleman Federal Penitentiary in Florida three years ago....

Today our Petition for Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc, submitted on behalf of my client, Mumia Abu-Jamal, was denied by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Simply put, we did not receive the needed majority vote from the nine sitting judges; at least five votes for a rehearing were necessary. However, Justice Thomas L. Ambro continues to urge the granting of relief on the issue of racism in jury selection. ...

Dear Friends of the Cuban Five: For more than ten years, Adriana and Gerardo have not been able to see each other. Olga and René have also been denied the right to family visits, since August 2000.
This is due to the cruel and unjustified refusal by the U.S. government to grant entry visas to the wives of two of the Cuban Five.
...

United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Philadelphia On June 27, 2008, I submitted on behalf of my client, Mumia Abu-Jamal, a Petition for Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Yesterday it was deemed "filed" by the court following rulings on related motions. The focus of the Petition is the issue of racism in jury selection. If unsuccessful, we will proceed to the United States Supreme Court...

There apparently is still confusion regarding the March 27 federal decision. A new jury trial was ordered on the question of whether the penalty should be life or death. The court did not rule that Mumia should receive a life sentence as some have stated. The penalty-phase was reversed because the trial judge gave misleading and unconstitutional jury instructions. Nonetheless, I expect far greater gains.
...

A national press conference to demand the immediate release of Dr. Sami Al-Arian was held at the Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial, Educational and Cultural Center in Harlem on April 15. Al-Arian was in the 44th day of a hunger strike to demand that the government abide by the terms of his release. He has been imprisoned for more than five years....Al-Arian, a tenured professor at the University of South Florida, was
arrested in 2003. Then-Attorney General John Ashcroft trumpeted it as the
"arrest of the most dangerous financier of Islamic Jihad in the Western
world." This case of a Palestinian who raised funds for orphans and charities back home is viewed as one of the most extreme examples of racist and anti-Muslim persecution....

Over a thousand people voiced their collective outrage here April 19 that political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal was once again denied the right to a fair hearing by an injustice system determined to keep this innocent man imprisoned for life if it can&'t silence him outright through execution....

Rainbow Flags for Mumia is a coalition of lesbian, gay, bi and trans people and organizations that came together in 1999 to demand a new trial for Mumia Abu-Jamal. The following are excerpts from a call issued by RF4M
organizers Imani Henry and LeiLani Dowell to help raise awareness and solidarity with the Free Mumia rally in Philadelphia on April 19....

In his new book, O'Connor argues that Abu-Jamal was clearly framed by police, and that the actual shooter was a man named Kenneth Freeman. O'Connor criticizes the local media, who, he says, "bought into the prosecution's story line early on and has never been able to see this case for what it is: a framing of an innocent and peace-loving man."...

Friday, April 11, is the scheduled release date of Dr. Sami Al-Arian, a Palestinian professor on a hunger strike, who has been imprisoned for more than five years. But the Department of Justice, through its continuous abuse of the grand jury system, is threatening to keep him imprisoned for many years....

This Legal Update is made on behalf of my client, Mumia Abu-Jamal, who remains on Pennsylvania’s death row. Many people have inquired as to our
reaction and position concerning recent legal developments, and what will happen now. This should answer many of those questions and alleviate some of the confusion....

There is considerable documentation of the extremely
"irregular" decision making by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. See the...minority position in the Third Circuit ruling. We must expose the conspiracy to convict
Mumia, to deny him a new trial, and to have him either executed or imprisoned
for life. We will not accept their decision. Into
the streets for our brother, Mumia, and for ourselves!!!...

The following statement was issued on March 29 by Pam Africa,
coordinator of the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia
Abu-Jamal, on the March 28, 2008 court ruling by the three-judge panel of the Third
Circuit of Appeals....

Emergency protests took place in a number of cities March 28, 2008, the day after a 2
to 1 court ruling March 27 made by the 3rd Circuit of Appeals that upheld the
guilty verdict in the case of death row political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal and called for a resentencing hearing due to flawed jury instructions in the original trial....

A ruling by the three-judge panel of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals rejecting Mumia Abu-Jama's appeals has left supporters outraged and
convinced that, for this internationally known political prisoner, there is no chance for a "fair trial" within the U.S. injustice system....

THE THIRD CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS HAS RULED AGAINST A NEW TRIAL FOR MUMIA ABU-JAMAL. THEY HAVE CALLED FOR A SENTENCING HEARING WHICH CAN RESULT IN EITHER AN EXECUTION OR LIFE IN PRISON WITHOUT PAROLE.DAY AFTER PLANS ARE IN EFFECT
...

As news flashed of the formal resignation of Cuba's Fidel Castro from the office of the President, morbid celebrations broke out in "Little Havana"(Miami), Florida, the U.S. capital of the Cuban exiled, anti-Castro movement. Just as they rejoiced at his illness in 2006, they reveled at his resignation....

The issues in this case concern the right to a fair trial, the struggle against the death penalty, and the political repression of a
courageous writer and ournalist. My goal is to
win a new and fair trial for Mumia, and a jury acquittal upon his retrial. I want him to go home to his family. Nevertheless, Mumia is in great danger, for if all is lost he will be executed. We must never forget that racism, fraud, and politics are threads that have run through this case since the beginning and continue today....

Earlier this month the federal government issued a statement in which they labeled Joanne Chesimard, known to most in the Black community as Assata
Shakur, as a domestic terrorist. In so doing, they also increased the bounty on
her head from $150,000 to an unprecedented $1,000,000. Viewed through the lens
of U.S. law enforcement, Shakur is an escaped cop-killer. Viewed through the
lens of many Black people, including me, she is a wrongly convicted woman and a hero of epic proportions....

March 2005 marked one year since the filing of the last appeal in the case of the Cuban Five. The Five are Cubans who were arrested in 1998 in the U.S. The U.S.
government charged the Five with engaging in espionage against military bases
and threatening "national security." The Cubans were trying to monitor and prevent terror attacks from U.S. soil against their island nation. ...

Puerto Ricans have resisted U.S. culture and the imposition of English-only
in schools, and over the years have formed liberation organizations such as the
Nationalist Party, the FALN and the Macheteros. Now the movement and its allies
are calling for the FBI and the U.S. Navy to get out of Puerto Rico. International solidarity is needed....

Mumia Abu-Jamal has been on Pennsylvania's death row for over a quarter of a century.
His 1982 conviction for the shooting death of Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel
Faulkner, has been contested by jurists, human rights organizations, and peoples
of conscience the world over. Even though he is arguably the most famous political
prisoner in the United States, his case and struggle for justice distills many
of the issues that racially stigmatized groups and others have faced in the United
States for decades: police brutality and violence, racist applications of the
death penalty, prosecutorial misconduct, suborning of witnesses, and the use of
wealth and political privilege in criminal justice systems to service the ideological
interests of groups and classes in power. ...

It is mind-boggling for us to be here, now, at this late hour, with Leonard Peltier still in chains. Books have been written; documentaries have been produced; congresspeople have joined his freedom campaign -- all for naught. For Leonard Peltier, a former leader of the American Indian Movement (AIM), is still not free! That, to anyone with a soul, is a damned shame. ...

Since 1970, hundreds of other Native Americans from across the country and their non-Native allies have been converging on Plymouth Harbor to let people know that Thanksgiving is a "Day of Mourning" that marks the genocide of thousands of Native Americans, the theft of Native Lands and the assault on Native Cultures. On Thursday, November 23, 2006 despite the cold and rainy weather, hundreds of people gathered and marched on Plymouth Harbor and joined in solidarity as various tribal elders and members spoke about the hypocrisy of the current U.S. government's attack against immigrants and spoke of the importance of Unity among all Indigenous Peoples. Elder Bert Waters read the following statement from Leonard Peltier: ...

Last fall, when two Black high school students sat under the "white" tree on their campus, white students responded by hanging nooses from the tree. When Black students protested the light punishment for the students who hung the nooses, District Attorney Reed Walters came to the school and told the students he could "take [their] lives away with a stroke of [his] pen." Racial tension continued to mount in Jena , and the District Attorney did nothing in response to several egregious cases of violence and threats against black students....

The International Action Center, an organization with over 15 centers throughout the United States, denounces the Bush Administration's announcement that the FBI has issued an arrest warrant for ANTONIO CAMACHO NEGRON a Puerto Rican pro-independence leader and former political prisoner....

There are many developments on the legal and other fronts concerning my client, Mumia Abu-Jamal. We remain in active litigation before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and also have issues pending in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Mumia has been honored by fellow writers through acceptance into a prestigious organization, a Nobel Prize winner recently visited him, an excellent new book was released in France, a leading British newspaper has published a major article on Mumia, and a superb film recently premiered in London and Rome. The following are the highlights....

We continue to await a decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Philadelphia, concerning my client, Mumia Abu-Jamal. This complex case was orally argued before a three-judge panel on May 17, 2007, following extensive litigation which included voluminous briefing and motions. In my experience of successfully defending a large number of murder cases involving the death penalty, it was a great day....